Trump signs stimulus bill after veto threats and millions kicked off of unemployment: report
The week has been filled with drama as President Donald Trump threatened to veto the COVID-19 stimulus and omnibus spending bill that his own White House staff worked to negotiate.
Trump attacked the bill, correctly characterizing that the checks to Americans are a joke at just $600, but Republicans refused to give Americans more.
Republican Sen. David Perdue (GA) had already started running ads celebrating his work on the bill, but Trump threw a kink in his plan by demanding more money. Now it has become clear that had it not been for Republican obstructionists, Americans would have had $2,000 checks.
Nothing has changed in the bill, so it's unclear why Trump supports it now that millions have been kicked off of unemployment but he didn't support it earlier this week.
The House may still vote on the $2,000 checks, which would continue to put Republicans in conflict with Democrats as well as Trump.
According to a statement from Trump, the Senate is going to take up the $2,000 checks that the House intends to pass on Monday. It will put the GOP in a difficult position where they'll come up against Trump after he called the $600 checks a "disgrace." The Senate likely won't pass the bill, despite desperately needing Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) to win in a runoff election in two weeks.
"I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more," said Trump in the statement. It's unclear why it took him five days to care about these issues."
"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," the statement continued.
While McConnell promises to take these things up for a vote, it's doubtful he will, despite whatever promise he made to Trump.
See the CNN report below:
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