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u.s. news Dialuna 28 December 2020

Lawmakers press Trump on relief bill as jobless aid expires

(AP) — President Donald in, the program they were re-
Trump appeared no closer lying on and when they ap-
to signing an end-of-year plied for benefits.
COVID relief and spend- In some states, people on
ing bill Sunday as unem- regular unemployment in-
ployment aid expired, surance would continue to
the government barrels receive payments under a
toward a mid-pandemic program that extends ben-
shutdown and lawmakers efits when the jobless rate
implored him to break the surpassed a certain threshold,
impasse he created after said Andrew Stettner, an un-
Congress approved the employment insurance ex-
deal. pert and senior fellow at the
Century Foundation think
Trump blindsided mem- tank.
bers of both parties with a
demand for larger COVID About 9.5 million people,
relief checks, imperiling not however, had been relying
only a massive package of on the Pandemic Unemploy-
economic and public-health ment Assistance program
assistance but the basic func- that expired altogether Sat-
tions of government itself. urday. That program made
unemployment insurance
The package passed with available to freelancers, gig
wide margins in the House workers and others who were
and Senate and with the un- normally not eligible. After
derstanding of members of receiving their last checks,
both parties that Trump sup- those recipients would not
ported it. Now, the federal just gave up guessing what he makers back to Washing- plan to provide $600 COVID be able to file for more aid,
government will run out of might do next,” he said. ton for a vote Monday on relief checks to most Ameri- Stettner said.
money at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday Trump’s proposal to send out cans — insisting it should be
if Trump refuses to sign the Republican Rep. Adam Kinz- $2,000 relief checks, instead $2,000. House Republicans The relief was attached to
bill in time as he spends the inger of Illinois said too much of the $600 approved by Con- swiftly rejected that idea dur- a $1.4 trillion government
holidays in Florida. is at stake for Trump to “play gress. The idea is likely to die ing a rare Christmas Eve ses- funding bill to keep the fed-
this old switcheroo game.” in the Republican-controlled sion. But Trump has not been eral government operating
In the face of economic hard- Senate. Democrats were also swayed despite the pandemic through September, which
ship and spreading disease, “I don't get the point,” he said. considering a vote Monday gripping the nation. would mean that failing to
lawmakers urged Trump on “I don’t understand what’s on a stop-gap measure aimed sign it by Tuesday would trig-
Sunday to sign the legislation being done, why, unless it’s at keeping the government The impact of the sidelined ger a federal shutdown.
immediately, then have Con- just to create chaos and show running until Democrat Joe aid is already being felt. Lau-
gress follow up with more. power and be upset because Biden is inaugurated Jan. 20. ren Bauer of the Brookings “Now to be put in a lurch,
Aside from unemployment you lost the election.” Institution has calculated after the president’s own per-
benefits and relief payments Washington has been reeling that at least 11 million peo- son negotiated something
to families, money for vac- Trump was spending Sun- since Trump turned on the ple were losing aid from the that the president doesn’t
cine distribution, businesses, day golfing at his West Palm deal, without warning, after programs immediately with- want, it’s just -- it’s surpris-
cash-starved public transit Beach course. it had won sweeping approv- out additional relief; millions ing,” Kinzinger said. “But we
systems and more is on the al in both houses of Congress more would exhaust other will have to find a way out.”
line. Protections against evic- He has given no indica- and after the White House unemployment benefits
tions also hang in the balance. tion he plans to sign the bill had assured Republican lead- within weeks. Kinzinger and Fauci spoke on
as he spends the last days of ers that Trump would sup- CNN’s “State of the Union,"
“What the president is do- his presidency in a rage. In- port it. How and when people would and Hogan and Sanders on
ing right now is unbelievably deed, his dissatisfaction with be affected by the lapse de- ABC’s “This Week."
cruel,” Sen. Bernie Sanders the legislation seems only to Instead, he assailed the bill's pended on the state they lived
of Vermont said Sunday. “So have grown in recent days as
many people are hurting. ... It he has criticized it both pri-
is really insane and this presi- vately to club members and
dent has got to finally ... do publicly on Twitter.
the right thing for the Ameri-
can people and stop worrying As the impasse dragged on,
about his ego." Dr. Anthony Fauci of the
National Institutes of Health
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey warned that the country is at a
of Pennsylvania, with more “critical point” in COVID-19
measured words, agreed infections, with the Christ-
Trump should sign the mas and New Year’s holidays
bill, then make the case for posing the threat of a “surge
more. “We’ve got a bill right upon a surge” as people con-
now that his administration gregate with families and
helped negotiate,” he said. others, against the advice of
“I think we ought to get that public-health officials.
done."
“As we get into the next few
The same point was echoed weeks, it might actually get
by Maryland Gov. Larry worse,” he said on CNN’s
Hogan, a Republican who's “State of the Union.”
criticized Trump's pandemic
response and his efforts to Days ago, Democrats said
undo the election results. “I they would call House law-