WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US lawmakers on Thursday blocked attempts to change a $ 2.3 trillion government aid and coronavirus package, rejecting President Donald Trump’s demand for extensive changes and leaving benefits for millions of Americans at risk.
Democrats in the House of Representatives sought to increase direct payments to Americans included in the bill from $ 600 to $ 2,000 per person as part of a coronavirus economic relief initiative, in response to one of Trump’s requests. Trump’s Republican colleagues, who oppose the larger sum, blocked this effort.
Republicans sought to change the amount of foreign aid included in the package, seeking to resolve another of Trump’s complaints. Democrats blocked that request.
The spate of activities on the floor of the House has done nothing to break an impasse that threatens the desperately needed assistance for millions of Americans and raises the prospect of a partial government shutdown at a time when authorities are trying to distribute vaccines in a country where nearly 320,000 people have died from COVID-19.
Bitter at his defeat for Democrat Joe Biden, Trump in a surprise move on Tuesday urged Congress to drastically change the coronavirus and the government’s spending package, which was approved by broad bipartisan margins on Monday.
A bipartisan group of members of the Senate and House on Thursday urged Trump to step back and sign the legislation. Lawmakers were instrumental in advancing the negotiations a few weeks ago when they proposed $ 908 billion in aid for coronavirus, just above the level that Congress finally decided.
“The legislation would bring the help desperately needed for families in difficulty, unemployed workers, hard-hit small businesses, an overburdened health system, stressed schools and many others,” they wrote.
Eleven senators, including Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Mitt Romney of Utah, signed the declaration, along with two members of the House, Republican and Democratic co-chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus. West Virginia and Utah were among the states that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the November election.
Trump was playing golf in Florida on Thursday. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Trump posted several tweets on Thursday, most of which related to his baseless allegations that the presidential election was rigged, but none discussed the spending package.
The 5,500-page project took months to negotiate and the White House had said before that Trump would sanction it.
With the status quo unchanged, it was unclear whether Trump would sign the package as a law or wait for further action.
If Trump does not sanction the package, unemployment benefits for about 14 million Americans will expire from Saturday and the U.S. government will be forced to a partial shutdown starting on Tuesday.
New stimulus checks, which may come out as early as next week, would be postponed, as well as payments to cashless states that are administering the vaccine launch.
A moratorium on eviction of tenants would expire on December 31, instead of being extended for another month. The stalemate comes at a time when the US economy is cooling in the face of the violent pandemic.
‘THAT IRONIC’
Congress could keep operations on track by passing a fourth draft funding bill before midnight on Monday. To do this successfully, lawmakers would need Trump’s cooperation at a time when he is consumed by his attempt to remain in office after January 20, when Biden will be sworn in.
An interim project would not include aid for the coronavirus, however.
Many Democrats say the $ 892 billion coronavirus aid package is not big enough to deal with the pandemic, and they have welcomed Trump’s call for further stimulus checks.
“It would be ironic to close the federal government at a time of pandemic crisis, the very moment when government services are most needed,” Democratic House leader Steny Hoyer told a news conference.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would hold a vote on increasing the stimulus check on Monday. The House will also try on Monday to overturn Trump’s veto on an unrelated defense policy bill.
Republicans objected to higher direct payments during the negotiations, as they sought to limit the size of the coronavirus aid package. The increase in payments can add hundreds of billions of dollars to the overall price.
Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy said on Thursday that Democrats should be willing to deal with foreign aid and other elements of the bill that McCarthy ridiculed as a waste of spending. “House Democrats appear to be suffering from selective hearing,” he wrote in a letter to other House Republicans.
The Trump administration had requested foreign aid in a budget proposal earlier this year, and Trump’s chief negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, had supported the $ 600 stimulus payments.
Biden said a larger coronavirus aid package will be needed to help fight the pandemic and help those whose lives have been affected by it. His transition team declined to comment on Thursday’s events.
Trump triggered a record 35-day government shutdown two years ago when he rejected a federal spending bill on what he said was insufficient funding for the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall. This left tens of thousands of federal workers inactive and forced the military and public security officials to work without pay.
Andy Sullivan reporting; Additional reporting by Brad Heath, Simon Lewis and Steve Holland; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller and Leslie Adler