Republican MP Tom Reed told CNBC on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s last-minute opposition to the coronavirus aid package approved by Congress earlier this week is hurting struggling Americans.
The $ 900 billion bill, along with a government financing measure, was approved with veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate. But on Tuesday night, Trump considered the package a “disgrace” and demanded several changes, including making direct payments of $ 2,000 instead of $ 600.
“When you raise these questions at the last minute like this, it is very worrying,” said Reed in the “Squawk Box”. “I understand the president’s frustration … but cheating people and doing it at the last second, for me, is not conducive, because the American people are the losers in this fight.”
Trump did not say whether to formally veto the bill or sign it.
The $ 900 billion package extends an expansion of the pandemic era of unemployment benefits that would otherwise expire on Saturday. The provision covers 12 million people. The government may also close on Monday if the $ 1.4 trillion appropriations portion of the legislation has not been signed by then.
Trump’s criticisms of the project focused, in part, on foreign aid spending that was included in the larger government financing section.
Reed, a New York Republican who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said he acknowledged Trump’s concerns about foreign aid. However, he said they should not divert attention from the need to provide economic assistance to Americans who were affected by the pandemic.
“The people for whom we negotiated this $ 900 billion are waiting for this relief,” said Reed. “People are being hired on Monday because they are waiting for the Salary Protection Program. Tens of thousands of people are returning to work. I beg the president: please think of these people, ”he added.
On Thursday, the House Democrats’ plan to approve a $ 2,000 stimulus check by unanimous consent failed after facing Republican opposition. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said the chamber will return on Monday to try to vote it again, this time in a registered vote.
“Hopefully, by then, the president will have already signed bipartisan and bicameral legislation to keep the government open and provide relief from the coronavirus,” she said in a statement.
Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Is also expected to propose a new temporary spending account that would separate the State Department and foreign aid financing from the larger spending package. Democrats would probably oppose that plan.
“What we should do is focus on where we agree. $ 900 billion in emergency aid … needs to go to people today. We all agree to this. We work on it. We find common ground,” said Reed. “The idea of increasing checks, we can potentially deal with that later.”
Representative Josh Gottheimer, who is co-chairman of Reed’s Problem Solvers Caucus, agrees. The New Jersey Democrat said he supports the idea of greater stimulus checks, but does not want to see any delay in the current deal.
“We worked hard to put this package together and bring Democrats and Republicans on board,” said Gottheimer in the same interview with the Squawk Box. “We should get this legislation signed and then we should add more to it … but it makes no sense to blow it up and hurt people and undermine all the underlying parts of this legislation, which are so critical.”
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on Reed and Gottheimer’s comments.