Trump, who called the package a ‘disgrace,’ threatened to hold up the legislation over an abrupt call to increase the second wave of stimulus checks to $2,000.
AFTER DAYS OF resistance, President Donald Trump signed the $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government spending package into the law on Sunday evening, averting a shutdown with a looming Monday night deadline.
Trump, who called the package a “disgrace,” threatened to hold up the legislation over an abrupt call to increase the second wave of stimulus checks to $2,000 but backed down with about 24 hours before current levels of government funding ran out. The $900 billion coronavirus relief bill provides individuals who make less than $75,000 with $600 and an additional $600 per child.
The outgoing president issued a new set of demands, noting in a statement that the House will vote Monday on $2,000 direct payments. Trump also said Congress will “review” Section 230, the regulation that shields social media companies from lawsuits over user content. He vetoed a major defense policy bill over Congress’ refusal to repeal Section 230. But his requests come as the next session of Congress will be sworn in in a week.
“I will sign the omnibus and COVID package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill,” Trump said in a Sunday statement.
“On Monday, the House will vote to increase payments to individuals from $600 to $2,000. Therefore, a family of four would receive $5,200. Additionally Congress has promised that Section 230, which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed,” he continued, adding that lawmakers also “agreed to focus strongly” on disputed voter fraud claims from the Nov. 3 race.
Trump’s threat would have not only upended much-needed coronavirus aid for Americans and businesses but also could have sent the federal government into a shutdown if he didn’t sign the measure before midnight on Monday.
Last Monday, both chambers of Congress overwhelmingly passed the stimulus bill and sent the measure to the president’s desk. Lawmakers also passed a seven-day stopgap measure to fund the government through Monday to give Trump time to sign the bill.
The historic legislation is the second largest stimulus in U.S. history and came more than eight months after Congress overwhelmingly passed a $2 trillion stimulus package in late March. In addition to the second round of stimulus checks, the $900 billion stimulus bill among other things provides enhanced federal unemployment benefits, public health funding, small business assistance and an extension of the eviction moratorium.
But while the bill extends provisions like unemployment assistance for part-time and gig workers as well as those who are self-employed, that benefit lapsed over the weekend because of Trump’s refusal to sign the measure into law as COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to soar.
With a Monday vote scheduled on the $2,000 checks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California called on Republicans to support Trump’s call for an increase in direct payments following their rejection to the increase on Christmas Eve.
“Now, the president must immediately call on Congressional Republicans to end their obstruction and to join him and Democrats in support of our stand-alone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000, which will be brought to the floor tomorrow,” Pelosi said Sunday.
“Every Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny the American people the relief they need.”