President Trump reiterated his calls for Congress to pass $ 2,000 coronavirus stimulus controls in a Christmas day tweet, announcing that he has been taking meetings during the holidays to reach an agreement with lawmakers.
“I made a lot of calls and had meetings at Trump International in Palm Beach, Florida. Why would politicians not want to give people $ 2,000 instead of just $ 600? It wasn’t his fault, it was China. Give money to our people! Trump wrote Friday afternoon.
The president, who is on vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort, declined to sign a $ 2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief and funding bill before leaving Washington on Wednesday.
After months of inaction, Congress approved a $ 900 billion aid package, but Trump announced in the eleventh hour that he was blocking it, calling it a “disgrace.”
He called on Congress to amend the legislation and increase stimulus controls from $ 600 to $ 2,000, while also reducing foreign aid and other resources in the regular credit bill.
The House will meet Monday to vote on independent legislation for $ 2,000 stimulus checks.
But not all Republicans agree with the president’s demands.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), A leading Republican in the Senate, said it would be “a mistake” not to sign the coronavirus relief bill.
He predicted that the $ 2,000 checks, in excess of the $ 1,200 approved by the pandemic in March, would not go through the Republican-controlled Senate.
“It simply came to our notice then. I think reopening this bill would be a mistake, ”he said.
“The best way out of that is for the president to sign the bill and I still hope that’s what he decides.”
On Thursday, members of the “Squad” introduced their own measure to provide $ 2,000 in “survival checks” to troubled American families.
“This holiday season, families are being forced to make incredibly difficult decisions, such as whether they should keep the lights on or buy groceries,” Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) Said in a statement.
“They are not to blame. We must protect the public health and economic well-being of those we serve. Providing $ 2,000 survival checks would give people fighting right now a lifeline as we continue to fight to defeat COVID-19 “