House minority leader Kevin McCarthy
Kevin Owen McCarthySlim Most Democrats in a new poll say Pelosi should retain the post of president. Increasing number of legislators refuse early access to vaccine COVID-19 Congress approves relief from coronavirus .3T, government financing agreement MORE (R-Calif.) Must offer a unanimous consent request on Thursday to revise the language regarding spending on state and foreign operations on the $ 2.3 trillion omnibus and coronavirus relief package after President Trump
Donald Trump Georgia Senate candidate Ossoff supports Trump’s request for K checks The White House wishes Birx well after she announces retirement Pelosi responds to Trump: Let’s press for K checks ‘this week’ MORE questioned such expenditures.
The request comes as a counterattack to the House Democrats’ efforts to pass a unanimous consent bill that would provide stimulus checks for $ 2,000 instead of the $ 600 offered in comprehensive legislation that was passed by the two chambers of Congress on Monday night, after months of disputes.
Trump – much to the surprise of many Republican Party lawmakers – argued that the direct $ 600 payments included in the project’s coronavirus aid portion were too small, and then questioned “wasteful” spending on foreign aid as part of the bus.
The foreign spending portion of the government’s financing account was in line with requests made by Trump’s own State Department.
Trump’s criticisms of foreign spending have been combined with him by suppressing the reduced amount of coronavirus-related stimulus checks. Negotiations between Congressional legislators and their government over the relief of COVID-19 and government funding took months to resolve and narrowly avoided a stoppage at the end of last week and at the weekend.
It is not yet clear whether Trump will end up signing the spending account. The president did not speak about the matter before leaving for Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday for his winter vacation.
In a GOP conference call on Wednesday afternoon, “McCarthy said he spoke to Trump and it is not certain what he will do,” according to a source on the conference call.
Democrats were quick to take advantage of Trump’s call for greater stimulus payments. Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiPelosi responds to Trump: Let’s push K checks ‘this week’ Trump overturns aid bill and asks Congress to raise stimulus money On The Money: Bill approval triggers struggle to declare victory, blame Democrats say more relief from COVID-19 is needed after current measure becomes law | Biden economic consultant expects ‘very challenging’ economy early next year MORE (D-Calif.) He asked the president to sign the general part of the huge spending package and then support an independent bill that would provide higher direct payments.
Republican congressmen have largely expressed opposition to greater stimulus checks.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter sent to members of his conference late on Wednesday, McCarthy criticized Pelosi, accusing her of using the American people as a lever for Democrats’ spending priorities in the midst of a crisis.
“Americans have needed coronavirus relief and blockages for months. House Republicans tried to approve relief more than forty times, but each time, Mayor Pelosi ignored our fellow citizens, saying “nothing is better than something,” he wrote.
“Worse than that, while waiting days before Christmas, spokesman Pelosi tried to use the American people as a lever to make coronavirus relief dependent on government funding – which includes billions of foreign aid at a time when there is a need. urgent at home. Our government’s top priority must be our families, communities and small businesses, while overcoming this pandemic and restoring our country, ”he added.
Pelosi argued that Republicans never confirmed a specific amount that they would agree to for each direct payment.
Several Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration with the president threatening to veto the bill after the Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin
Steven MnuchinQuestions and Answers on the Second Round of Stimulus Payments The Hill’s Morning Report – Congress approves end-of-year COVID-19 relief, general agreement Approval of the relief bill sparks struggle to declare victory, assign blame MORE – which was instrumental in helping to negotiate the agreement – assured lawmakers that the president would sign the legislation.
McCarthy appeared to side with Trump in an attempt to revisit the examination of foreign aid.
“House Democrats seem to be suffering from selective hearing. They conveniently ignored the concerns expressed by the president, and shared by our voters, that we must reexamine how our tax dollars are spent abroad while so many of our neighbors at home are struggling to pay the bills, “said the letter
“In this way, Republicans will offer a unanimous consent request to revisit the Omnibus State and Foreign Operations title so that we can fully address the concerns at hand,” McCarthy wrote. “It will be up to Mayor Pelosi to decide whether she wants to act on behalf of of the American people. “