WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump spent his Christmas playing golf in Florida, as a government shutdown was approaching and greedy relief was at stake.
The government’s coveted aid and funding project arrived in Florida Thursday night, said a person familiar with the move.
Trump, at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach for the holidays – accompanied on the trip by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani – had no events on his public schedule. The White House declined to provide details, although the president is due to play golf on Friday with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally.
Trump’s sudden demand this week for checks of $ 2,000 instead of $ 600 for most Americans was quickly rejected by House Republicans on Thursday, throwing the project into chaos.
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A rare Christmas Eve session of the House lasted only a few minutes, with the help of millions of Americans awaiting Trump’s signature. Unemployment benefits, eviction protections and other emergency aids, including checks for $ 600, are at risk. Trump’s refusal of the $ 900 billion package, which is linked to the $ 1.4 trillion government funds account, could trigger a federal shutdown at midnight on Monday.
“We are not going to let the government close, nor are we going to let the American people down,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., The majority leader.
Meanwhile, the country is suffering from the worst holiday season that many can remember. Families are isolated under careful precautions and millions of American homes are devastated without adequate income, food or shelter. The number of virus deaths from more than 330,000 is increasing.
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, he will force the federal government to stop, as it is attached to the government’s financing account, in addition to delaying pandemic aid.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised that the $ 600 checks that all parties agreed on would be in the mail in a week. Instead, Washington is rushing into a crisis.
Rushing to save the legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mnuchin are in talks about options.
Democrats will call House legislators back to Washington for a vote on Monday over Trump’s proposal, with a checklist that would place all registered members as supporting or rejecting the $ 2,000 checks.
They are also considering voting an interim measure to at least avoid a federal strike. This would keep the government running until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20. Lawmakers will also be asked to override Trump’s veto on a mandatory defense bill.
The president’s pressure to increase direct payments for most Americans from $ 600 to $ 2,000 for individuals and $ 4,000 for couples is supported by Democrats, but divides the Republican Party with a politically difficult test of its loyalty to the president.
Even if the House is able to approve Trump’s $ 2,000 checks on Monday, that measure will likely die in the Republican-controlled Senate, which is expected to return to the session on Tuesday.
The year-end package that Trump has complained about as a “disgrace” is the product of months of work. He would establish a temporary supplementary unemployment benefit of $ 300 a week, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, healthcare providers and vaccine distribution.
CHRISTMAS SPEECH
White House spokesman Judd Deere said Trump was informed of the explosion in downtown Nashville on Friday, but the president said nothing publicly about it in the hours that followed.
Trump tweeted that he planned to “give a brief speech to service members from around the world” via video conference on Friday to celebrate the holiday, but declared, “Uninvited fake news!” Without giving details, the White House said only that Trump would work “tirelessly” during the holidays and have “many meetings and calls”.
“I made a lot of calls and had meetings at Trump International in Palm Beach, Florida. Why don’t politicians want to give people $ 2,000 instead of just $ 600?” he tweeted after leaving the golf course on Friday afternoon. “It wasn’t their fault, it was China. Give the money to our people!”
To mark the holiday, President and First Lady Melania Trump tweeted a pre-recorded video message in which they wished the Americans a Merry Christmas and thanked the first respondents and the military.
“As you know, this Christmas is different from previous years,” said the first lady, who focused on the acts of “kindness and courage” that the pandemic inspired.
Trump welcomed the doses of the vaccine being delivered and thanked those responsible. “It really is a Christmas miracle,” he said.
The information for this article was provided by Lisa Mascaro, Andrew Taylor and Jill Colvin of The Associated Press.
A view of the White House, Tuesday, December 22, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)