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PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) .- After launching a controversial proposal that threatened to blow up a large package of aid for COVID-19 and government funding law, which would involve a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic, Trump went to Spend Christmas Day Playing Golf in Florida |
If no agreement is reached on the law, millions of Americans on the edge of their resources would be deprived of aid checks.
Trump had no public events scheduled for the first day of his winter vacation, although he traveled to his golf club in Palm Beach, where he was seen by CNN cameras on the courts.
The press did not receive details about his agenda, only a statement stating that: “As the holiday season approaches, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people. His agenda includes many meetings and calls.”.
Trump left Washington as the city was still recovering from its unexpected last-minute demand that the year-end spending bill, negotiated for months by congressional leaders, include $ 2,000 checks in aid for most Americans, well above the $ 600 that members of their own party had accepted. The idea was quickly rejected by Republican representatives in an unusual session on Christmas Day, which left the proposal in limbo.
The bipartisan compromise was seen as a settled issue, which garnered widespread support this week in the House of Representatives and Senate after the White House assured Republican leaders that Trump would support it. If Trump refuses to sign the deal, associated with a $ 1.4 trillion government spending law, he will force a government shutdown in addition to delaying aid checks and disrupting unemployment benefits and eviction protections, in the worst moment of the pandemic in the United States.
It was a last planted to the Republicans of a president who has focused on renouncing his November 3 defeat to the president-elect, Joe Biden, And in seeking increasingly outrageous ways of trying to overturn the results of a democratic election. He has been encouraged by allies such as his lawyer, the former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, Who accompanied the president to Florida aboard Air Force One.
Part of Trump’s outrage has been directed at Republican congressmen, who he believes have not given him enough support in his campaign to delegitimize Biden’s victory by defending unfounded allegations of election fraud before Congress meets Jan. 6 to count the votes of the Electoral College.
In Florida, Trump continued to question the results, complaining to club members that his election had been stolen from him and expressing his frustrations around the spending law.
“At a meeting in Florida today, everyone was asking, why aren’t Republicans outraged and fighting that Democrats stole the rigged presidential election?” Trump tweeted after returning to his private Mar-a-Lake club. “Especially in the Senate, they said, where you helped 8 senators with their campaigns.”
“I’ll NEVER FORGET IT!” He wrote in another tweet.
The allegations reaffirmed concern that Trump is torpedoing negotiations to punish lawmakers for what he considers a lack of loyalty.
Trump has offered no credible evidence to support his allegations about the election, which have also been refuted by a long list of authorities, from Justice Secretary William Barr to Republican governors, judges and local election administrators.
Meanwhile, the country continues to suffer from the spread of the coronavirus, with records of infections and hospitalizations and more than 327,000 deaths so far. And millions of people face the possibility of spending the holidays alone or suffering to reach the end of the month without shelter, food or enough income due to the economic effect of the pandemic.
The president and first lady, Melania Trump, tweeted a pre-recorded video message in which they wished Americans a Merry Christmas and thanked the emergency services and members of the Army.
“As you know, this Christmas is different than previous years,” said the first lady, who focused on the acts of “kindness and courage” that had inspired the pandemic.
Trump celebrated that the distribution of vaccines had begun and thanked those responsible. “It’s a real Christmas miracle,” he said.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were trying to save her year-end bill to avoid government shutdown.
Democrats will reconvene representatives in Washington on Monday to vote on Trump’s $ 2,000 proposal, though it will likely be rejected in the Republican-majority Senate. They are also considering voting on Monday a temporary measure to at least avoid federal closure and keep the government running until the Biden investiture on January 20th.
In addition to direct aid checks, the law to deal with COVID-19 passed in Congress would establish a temporary supplement of $ 300 a week for unemployment, grant a new round of subsidies for theaters, restaurants and others. affected companies and funds for schools, in addition to money for health centers and to help in the distribution of vaccines against COVID-19.