President Trump’s decision on Sunday night to sign the COVID relief / government spending plan combination prevents a stoppage tomorrow night. The government was financed until 11:59 pm on Monday. But Mr. Trump’s signature means that the government is now funded through September 30, 2021.
The president protested the combination package last week – although the final plan was negotiated by the top four bicameral and bipartisan congressional leaders and their own Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin.
The plan was approved with 359 votes in the House and 92 in the Senate.
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President Trump objected to the foreign aid clauses he considered “pigs” in the provision for spending on the combined measure – although the president requested much of that money in his budget request sent to Congress earlier this year. Many Republicans have opposed any stimulus checks. But after disputes, the sides agreed to checks for $ 600. Then, last week, the president, who was absent from negotiations, demanded direct payments of $ 2,000 and refused to turn the legislation into law.
Thus, House Democrats prepared a bill to pay $ 2,000 in checks. This account will be under discussion on Monday. At this stage, Fox News has been informed that the House will submit this to a two-thirds vote for approval. Observe whether Republicans line up with the president now – or follow his line.
When dealing with this bill as a “suspension” measure (a process that speeds up the bill, but requires a two-thirds vote to pass), approval of the plan is not guaranteed. But Fox News was told by a member of the Republican Party leadership that the measure should guarantee two-thirds.
Democrats are essentially Republicans daring to vote no. Reaching the two-thirds limit is a challenge. But, if the Chamber goes through the usual procedure for the bill, the measure will only be subject to a simple majority for approval.
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Democrats designed the bill to make the implementation of checks for $ 2,000 conditional on the signature of the president of the COVID / government funding plan. So, as soon as the president saw the $ 2,000 opportunity with the House planning a bill, he agreed to sign the plan.
If the House approves the bill, it is up to the Senate.
Senator Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Declared on Christmas Eve that he did not think the Senate would have the appetite to handle $ 2,000 in direct payments.
So the question is whether the Senate can handle such a package. The bill may be subject to one, if not two, obstructionists. One, just to start a debate on the bill. The other, to end the debate on the bill. Both steps require 60 votes to defuse an obstruction. And, if the Senate follows the regulations, the measure could take several days to process. However, if the Senate has the cooperation of all 100 senators, it can act very quickly.
However, a senior Republican party source doubted that the Senate could deal with the plan as soon as he leaves the House. And Trump’s maneuver puts the GOPers in a difficult spot. Support his plan and reverse their position – just because he said so – or, stick to your position and face the president’s wrath.
If the president had not signed the package, Washington was running for the government to close.
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It is now obvious that no one really knew what the President was going to sign. Or did President Trump make several Congressional leaders, hundreds of Congressional Republicans and key players in his government believe that he would sign this specific package? It is not clear.
Under conventional circumstances, if Congress faced a threat of government shutdown, the House and the Senate would have rushed to prepare another provisional spending bill. But that was not in the letters. For Congress, it was that bill or nothing. It was a huge legislative incentive just to move this plan forward. And even if there was an emergency bill, no one knew if the president would sign it.
In addition, there was a holiday scheduling problem.
The Chamber meets on Monday afternoon. The Senate will not meet until Tuesday. This meant that there would be a standstill if President Trump refused to sign the existing bill before 11:59 pm on Monday.
A government shutdown is always bad. But a stoppage now would have marked the second stoppage near the holiday in three years.
A stoppage means that federal police officers working under COVID’s conditions are not paid. This may also have delayed the launch of the coronavirus vaccine. Or those who are accused of helping to distribute the vaccine may be working, without paying.
A strike could have meant licenses for civilian Pentagon officials. Active military personnel are considered essential, but they probably would not have received their salary, depending on the length of the strike.
TSA air traffic trackers and controllers are considered essential, as they process vacation and pandemic travel. But they would not have been paid. Would they be willing to work, free of charge, under such circumstances?
Remember that the flagrant absences of air traffic controllers during the 2018-2019 stoppage began to threaten security. The evasion led to the end of this disconnection.
And for everyone who demands that Congress’ payment cease during a government shutdown, you’re out of luck.
The 27th Amendment to the Constitution is clear:
“No law that changes the remuneration for the services of senators and deputies will take effect, until the election of deputies is intervened,” says the amendment.
In other words, legislators are paid, no matter what. Shutdown or not. One can argue what “variation” means. Some members may choose to take their payment into custody or donate their wages to charitable causes during this period. But they are still “paid”. There can be no “change in pay” until the mid-term election of 2022.
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But President Trump signed the bill. This means that there will be no doubt about government funding until next fall.
And then the decision to sign or not, will be up to President-elect Biden.