House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump have been at loggerheads for months over stimulus funding, with each directing barbs at the other. But now Pelosi and the president are in agreement that the $600 COVID-19 stimulus checks Congress authorized on December 21 should be raised to $2,000.
“Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks. At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it!” Pelosi tweeted on December 22.
All eyes are now on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, since Republicans control the U.S. Senate. Some Republicans in the Senate, such as Rand Paul, have balked at the spending in the $908 billion COVID-19 relief bill already.
“Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and foreign interests while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it. It wasn’t their fault; it was China’s fault,” said Trump.
Here’s what you need to know:
Trump Called the $600 Stimulus Checks ‘Ridiculously Low’
Statement by Donald J. Trump, The President of the United States
Full Video: t.co/avKfYctPAD
Trump posted a video to Twitter on December 22 that has been viewed more than 11 million times. “I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple,” Trump said. “I am also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the unnecessary and wasteful items in this legislation.”
The president declared that he was asking Congress “to send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package and maybe that administration will be me, and we will get it done.”
Throughout the summer, Trump said, “Democrats cruelly blocked COVID relief legislation in an effort to advance their extreme left wing agenda and influence the election. Then a few months ago Congress started negotiations on a new package to get urgently needed help to the American people. It’s taken forever. However the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than inticipated. It really is a disgrace.”
Trump Ticked Off a List of Aid to Foreign Governments, Although That’s Actually in a Separate Omnibus Spending Bill Approved at the Same Time
GettyU.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he departs on the South Lawn of the White House, on December 12, 2020.
In the video, Trump listed aid to foreign governments among other items and claimed those items are in the COVID-19 relief bill. However, according to Politifact, the COVID-19 relief bill did not include the aid to foreign governments; those items were passed at the same time but as part of a separate omnibus spending bill.
The Politifact article was fact-checking a Facebook post that alleged the COVID-19 stimulus bill contained the aid to foreign governments.
“The post conflates provisions of the $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill with provisions of a separate, $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill. Both were part of a broader $2.3 trillion package approved by Congress,” Politifact explained.
I will neither endorse a corrupt legislative process nor agree to pass legislation that actively harms our nation.
This spending bill was nothing short of an embarrassment, created by legislative malpractice.
Full stmt: t.co/WOL8S64x1i
Fox News noted, “As Congress rushed to pass its year-end spending omnibus legislation and a coronavirus stimulus bill in one fell swoop Monday night, many objected to the process which essentially attached the crucial pandemic aid to a bevy of other priorities totaling $2.3 trillion.”
In the video, Trump said there are more than 5,000 pages in this bill and “no one in Congress has read” it “because of its length and complexity. It’s called the COVID relief bill, but this bill has nothing to do with COVID.”
Trump alleged the bill provides $85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia, $134 million to Burma, $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian military, “which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment.” He said the bill also contains $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan, $505 million for Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
In addition, claimed Trump, the bill contained $40 million for the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., “which is not even open for business,” and money for the Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art. “Likewise these facilities are essentially not open,” said Trump.
The president further claimed the bill included millions of dollars for reef fish management, to combat Asian carp and to count the number of Amberjack fish in the Gulf of Mexico. He said it also includes construction projects at the FBI.
Trump claims the bill “allows stimulus checks for the family members of illegal aliens at $1,800 each. This is far more than the Americans are given.”
Again, though, Trump is conflating the omnibus spending with the COVID-19 bill, although they were passed at the same time.
He said that “despite all of this wasteful spending and much more, the $900 billion provides hard working taxpayers with only 600 each.” He said the bill doesn’t give enough money to small businesses, especially restaurants.
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