COVID relief checks and unemployment benefits for millions of Americans are at stake, as President Donald Trump has not yet signed Congressionally approved aid legislation. Instead, Trump spent the last few days playing golf at Mar-a-Lago.
Congress finally reached an agreement this month to send additional COVID aid to U.S. residents, including checks for $ 600 for most people, but Trump criticized the bill after it passed and demanded that Congress increase checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000 in direct payments – something your own party doesn’t want to do. House Democrats were more than happy to pressure Republicans to increase checks, but they refused to do so.
Unless Trump signs the bill imminently while in Florida, checks, as well as housing protections and unemployment benefits, would be delayed. The state unemployment provisions set out in the first CARES Act passed in the spring, which expanded who can qualify for unemployment benefits, will expire on Saturday, according to the New York Times. Even if the bill is signed on Saturday, payments may be delayed due to states having to enter the new information into their systems, the Times reported. The bill would also provide another $ 300 a week in federal unemployment in addition to state benefits until mid-March, but those will also be postponed if Trump does not sign the legislation this weekend.
Until Saturday, the president had no public events scheduled on his agenda.
Democrats like President-elect Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders have made public statements urging Trump to sign the critical relief bill. Biden called Trump’s inaction an “abdication of responsibility” that could have “devastating consequences”.
In a tweet, Sanders demanded that Trump “stop playing golf and sign this account NOW!”
“And tell Mitch McConnell to pass legislation that provides $ 2,000 in direct payments to the working class,” added Sanders.
The White House did not respond to a BuzzFeed News survey.
However, the president tweeted on Saturday that he still wants $ 2,000 stimulus checks, despite House Republicans rejecting the proposal this week. “I simply want our great people to receive $ 2,000, instead of the meager $ 600 that is now in the account,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Also, stop the billions of dollars in ‘pork’,” added Trump, referring to what he believes to be a waste of spending.
The government will also close next week if a spending bill is not passed.