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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 29 december 2020

House set to vote on Trump's $2,000 checks as GOP balks

By LISA MASCARO and JILL resistance Tuesday from he considered unneces-
COLVIN the Republican-led Senate. sary spending, particularly
Associated Press Trump's sudden decision on foreign aid — much of it
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pan- to sign the bill came as proposed by his own bud-
demic aid secured, Con- he faced escalating criti- get.
gress turned Monday to cism from lawmakers on all While the president insisted
confront the White House sides over his eleventh-hour he would send Congress
on additional year-end demands. The bipartisan "a redlined version" with
priorities after President bill negotiated by Treasury spending items he wants
Donald Trump reluctantly Secretary Steven Mnuchin removed, those are merely
signed a $2 trillion-plus CO- had already passed the suggestions to Congress.
VID-19 relief and federal House and Senate by wide For now, the administration
spending package that will margins. Lawmakers had can only begin work send-
provide relief for millions of thought they had Trump's ing out the $600 payments.
Americans. blessing after months of ne- Democrats, who have the
The House gaveled in for This Dec. 24, 2020, file photo shows the U.S. Capitol is seen in gotiations with his adminis- majority in the House, "will
the rare holiday week ses- Washington. tration. reject any rescissions" sub-
sion to vote on Trump's Associated Press The president's defiant re- mitted by the president,
unmet demand for larger Tuesday, in the midst of the is set to be sworn in Sunday. fusal to act, publicized with said Rep. Nita Lowey of
$2,000 virus relief checks. public health crisis. House Speaker Nancy Pe- a heated video he tweet- New York, chair of the Ap-
Democrats who control Aside from the direct $600 losi, D-Calif., seized on the ed just before the Christ- propriations Committee.
the House favor the larger checks to most Americans, divide between the presi- mas holiday, sparked cha- A day after the signing,
stipends, beyond the $600 the COVID portion of the dent and his party, urging os, a lapse in unemploy- Trump was back at the golf
payments included in the bill revives a weekly pan- Trump to put pressure on his ment benefits for millions course in Florida, where he
massive COVID bill. But the demic jobless benefit boost Senate GOP allies to pass and the threat of a govern- is expected to move after
president's push for more — this time $300, through the bill. ment shutdown in the pan- President-elect Joe Biden is
spending is forcing his Re- March 14 — as well as a "The President must imme- demic. It was another crisis sworn in on January 20.
publicans allies who op- popular Paycheck Protec- diately call on Congres- of his own making, resolved Republican Rep. Mo Brooks
pose the higher payments tion Program of grants to sional Republicans to end when he ultimately signed of Alabama, a conserva-
into a tough spot. businesses to keep workers their obstruction and to join the bill into law. tive who supported Trump's
The showdown offers more on payrolls. It extends evic- him and Democrats in sup- In his statement about the extraordinary and futile
symbol than substance, tion protections, adding a port of our stand-alone leg- signing, Trump repeated challenge of the election
and it's not expected to al- new rental assistance fund. islation to increase direct his frustrations with the results, counted himself
ter the massive package, The COVID package draws payment checks to $2,000," COVID-19 relief bill for pro- Monday among the oppo-
one of the largest federal and expands on an earlier Pelosi said in a tweet. viding only $600 checks nents of a more generous
interventions of its kind. In- effort from Washington, the The bill is expected to easily to most Americans and relief package and Trump's
stead, the Trump admin- largest of its kind. It offers bil- pass the House, but faces complained about what call for higher payments.q
istration now faces enor- lions of dollars for vaccine
mous pressure to quickly purchases and distribution,
disperse the pandemic for virus contact tracing,
relief to Americans as the public health departments,
nation faces a bleak winter schools, universities, farm-
with COVID infections, and ers, food pantry programs
the virus death toll, surging. and other institutions and
The House chaplain groups facing hardship in
opened in prayer for the the pandemic.
lawmakers. "They return to Americans earning up to
the Capitol with a huge $75,000 will qualify for the
weight lifted from their direct $600 payments,
shoulders, for which a na- which are phased out at
tion is grateful, " said Rev. higher income levels, and
Patrick Conroy. there's an additional $600
Trump appears to have payment per dependent
accomplished little, if any- child. Meantime the gov-
thing, from the days of dra- ernment funding portion of
ma over his refusal to ac- the bill keeps federal agen-
cept the sweeping biparti- cies nationwide running
san deal negotiated by his without dramatic changes
own administration. until Sept. 30.
The package the president Together with votes Mon-
signed into law late Sun- day and Tuesday to over-
day in Florida, where he is ride Trump's veto of a
spending the holidays, in- sweeping defense bill, the
cludes two parts — $900 bil- attempt to send much
lion in COVID aid and $1.4 higher pandemic-era

trillion to fund government checks to people is per-
agencies. It will deliver haps the last standoff of
long-sought cash to busi- the president's final days in
nesses and individuals and office as he imposes fresh
avert a federal govern- demands and disputes the
ment shutdown that oth- results of the presidential
erwise would have started election. The new Congress