Palm Beach, Florida – After throwing a grenade that threatens to blow up a huge COVID government relief and funding bill and force the government to close in the middle of a pandemic, President Trump spent the day before Christmas playing golf in Florida. Not agreeing with the bill can deny checks for millions of Americans on the edge.
Mr. Trump had no events on his public schedule on the first day of his winter vacation on Thursday, but he traveled to his golf club in Palm Beach, where he was spotted by CNN cameras on the links. Reporters did not receive details of his schedule for the day, but said, “As the holiday season approaches, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people. His schedule includes many meetings and calls.”
Mr. Trump also had no public events on his Christmas Day schedule, but the White House press office said again: “During the holiday season, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people. His schedule includes many meetings and calls. “
Senate Judiciary President Lindsey Graham, a strong Trump ally, tweeted Friday that he had spent time with Mr. Trump at Christmas. “I am convinced that he is more determined than ever to increase stimulus payments to $ 2,000 per person and to challenge section 230 of protection against major technology responsibilities.” Graham called the two “reasonable demands”.
SAUL LOEB / AFP through Getty Images
Trump’s trip to Florida came at a time when Washington was still recovering from its surprise, the last-minute demand that a year-end bill that Congress leaders spent months negotiating would provide most Americans $ 2,000 COVID relief checks – far more than the $ 600 members your own party agreed to. O idea was quickly rejected by House Republicans on Thursday, leaving the proposal in limbo.
CBS News confirmed that the coronavirus and government spending relief bill was being sent to Florida on Thursday night for the president to sign – or veto – if he decides to do so.
The bipartisan agreement was considered a closed agreement and gained broad approval in the House and Senate this week after the White House assured Republican leaders that Trump supported him.
If he refuses to sign the agreement, which is associated with a $ 1.4 trillion government funding bill, he will force a federal government shutdown, delay aid checks and suspend unemployment insurance and eviction protections amid the most terrible stretch of the pandemic.
In a tweet on Friday, Trump did not say what he planned to do about the account, but continued to insist that the checks should be bigger. “Why don’t politicians want to give people $ 2,000 instead of just $ 600? It wasn’t their fault, it was China. Give the money to our people!” He wrote.
It was a demonstration of dissatisfaction with Republicans on the part of a president who was enraged by the defeat in the elections for President-elect Biden and tried to propose new and increasingly outrageous schemes to try to reverse the results. He was instigated by allies like his lawyer, the former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, who accompanied the president to Florida aboard Air Force One.
Trump’s wrath has focused, in part, on Republicans in Congress who he believes have not sufficiently supported his quest to delegitimize Biden’s victory by making baseless statements of mass electoral fraud before Congress meets to account The Electoral college votes on January 6.
In Florida, Mr. Trump continued to criticize the results, complaining to members that he had been stolen from the election and expressing frustrations with the year’s spending bill.
“At a meeting in Florida today, everyone was asking why Republicans are not up for war and fighting over Democrats stealing the rigged presidential election?” the president tweeted after returning to his private Mar-a-Lago club on Thursday afternoon. “Especially in the Senate, they said, where you helped 8 senators to win their race.”
“I will never forget!” he wrote in another.
The statements underscored concerns that Trump is blowing up negotiations to punish lawmakers for what he considers insufficient loyalty.
The president did not provide any reliable evidence to support his electoral claims, which were also refuted by a long list of officials, from ex-attorney general William Barr to Republican governors, judges and local electoral administrators.
Meanwhile, the nation continues to stagger as the coronavirus spreads, with record infections and hospitalizations and more than 329,000 dead. And millions now face the prospect of spending their holidays alone or struggling to survive without adequate income, food or shelter, thanks to the pandemic’s economic toll.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been trying to save the year-end legislation to try to avoid a government shutdown.
Democrats will call House legislators back to Washington for a vote on Monday over Trump’s $ 2,000 proposal, although she likely died in the Republican-controlled Senate. They are also considering a vote on Monday on a palliative measure to at least avoid a federal strike and keep the government running until Biden is sworn in on January 20.
In addition to the relief checks, the approved COVID bill would establish a temporary supplementary unemployment benefit of $ 300 a week, provide a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools and provide money for schools. health care providers and to assist in the distribution of the COVID vaccine