Palm Beach, Florida – After throwing a grenade that threatens to blow up a big relief from COVID and a government funding law and force a government shutdown amid a pandemic, President Trump spent the day before Christmas playing golf in Florida. If the bill is not agreed, it can be denied checks to millions of Americans Ready.
Trump had no events in his public schedule on the first day of winter vacation Thursday, but he traveled to his Palm Beach Golf Club, where CNN cameras saw him on the links. Journalists were not given any details of their schedule for the day, but said that “As the holiday season approaches, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people. His schedule includes many meetings and calls “.
Trump also did not have any public events on his Christmas Day schedule, but the White House press office reiterated, “During the holiday season, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people. your calendar includes many meetings and calls. “
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Mr. Trump’s trip to Florida came as Washington was still awaiting his surprise, the 11-hour demand that a year-end spending bill that congressional leaders spent months negotiating would give most Americans had $ 2,000 worth of COVID checks, far more than the 600 members of their own party had accepted. He the idea was quickly rejected by House Republicans Thursday, leaving the proposal in limbo.
CBS News confirmed that the coronavirus relief and government spending bill was being sent to Florida on Thursday evening for the president to sign or veto if he had to.
The bipartisan compromise had been considered a deal reached and had garnered widespread approval in the House and Senate this week after the White House assured Republican leaders that Trump supported it.
Refusing to sign the agreement, which is attached to a $ 1.4 trillion government funding bill, will force the federal government to stop, as well as delay aid controls and stop unemployment benefits and protections against evictions in the midst of the worst part of the pandemic.
It was a final show of dissatisfaction with Republicans of a president who has become enraged by his election loss to President-elect Biden and has tried to reach new, increasingly outrageous ones. schemes to try to overturn the results. He has been incited by allies such as his lawyer, a former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, who accompanied the president to Florida aboard Air Force One.
Mr. Trump’s anger has focused, in part, on Republicans in Congress, who believe they have not given enough support to his mission to delegitimize Mr. Biden’s victory by pressing unfounded claims of massive election fraud before Congress meets to count the Votes of the Electoral College on January 6th.
In Florida, Trump continued to denounce the results, complaining about members who had stolen his election and expressing frustration over the year-end spending bill.
“At a meeting in Florida today, everyone was wondering why Republicans aren’t fighting over guns and fighting for Democrats to steal the so-called presidential election?” the president tweeted after returning to his private club Mar-a-Lago. “Especially in the Senate, they said, where you helped eight senators win their careers.”
“I’ll never forget!” he wrote in another.
The statements underscored the concern that Trump would exploit negotiations to punish lawmakers for what he considers his loyalty to be insufficient.
The president has not provided reliable evidence to support his election claims, which have also been refuted by a long list of officials, from former Attorney General William Barr to Republican governors, judges and local election administrators.
Meanwhile, the nation continues to roll as the coronavirus spreads, with record infections and hospitalizations and more than 329,000 deaths. And millions of people now face the possibility of spending the holidays alone or struggling to get the two heads without adequate income, food or shelter thanks to the economic weight of the pandemic.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have tried to save the year-end legislation to try to prevent a government shutdown.
Democrats will remind House lawmakers in Washington to vote on Trump’s $ 2,000 proposal Monday, though he would likely die in the Republican-controlled Senate. A vote on a failure measure is also being considered Monday to prevent at least one federal shutdown and keep the government running until Mr. Biden is invested on January 20th.
In addition to relief checks, the approved COVID bill would establish a temporary additional benefit of $ 300 per week for unemployment, provide a new round of grants for affected businesses, restaurants and theaters, and money for schools, and provide money for providers of unemployment benefits. medical care and to assist with the distribution of the COVID vaccine