Trump claims to be 'working tirelessly' but
leaves Covid relief bill in disarray
President flies to Florida after throwing party ‘under
a bus’
Democrats seize chance to push for $2,000 payments
Martin
Pengelly in New York and agencies
@MartinPengelly
Thu 24 Dec
2020 14.51 GMT
Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida
on Thursday, claiming to be “working tirelessly for the American people” with a
schedule that included “many meetings and calls”. Back in Washington, a
Democratic proposal to increase direct payments to Americans under the Covid
relief bill, from $600 to $2,000, was blocked.
That was
Trump’s demand in a surprise video address on Tuesday night but it was shot
down by Republicans who opposed greater spending throughout stimulus talks.
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would try again on Monday. Should the
relief bill fail, millions of Americans will be without desperately needed
relief at least until President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January.
“To vote
against this bill is to deny the financial hardship that families face,” she
said, “and to deny them the relief they need”.
The White
House’s official guidance to reporters about Trump’s “tireless” Christmas Eve
schedule contrasted with recent examples notably light on official events,
which have left Trump free to make baseless claims of electoral fraud and meet
with conspiracy theorists and cronies about attempts to subvert the
constitution and stay in power, despite defeat by Joe Biden.
From
Florida, on Wednesday night, the president also issued the latest batch of
controversial pardons and acts of clemency for political allies.
Before
Trump intervened, the Covid relief bill was agreed at $900bn and tied to huge
spending legislation to keep the government open until September next year. The
relief package was set to be the second-biggest in US history, after the $2.3tn
Cares Act at the beginning of the pandemic.
“Just when
you think you have seen it all,” Pelosi wrote to colleagues about Trump’s
gambit. “The entire country knows that it is urgent for the president to sign
this bill, both to provide the coronavirus relief and to keep government open.”
Pelosi
offered the president’s proposal for increased payments on Thursday under a
procedure that allowed just one lawmaker to object and in a so-called pro forma
session, with few lawmakers in attendance. It duly failed.
Trump has
not expressly threatened to veto the Covid package but on Wednesday he did veto
the annual National Defense Authorization Act, worth $740bn, over objections to
renaming military bases honouring Confederate leaders, to telecoms provisions
and more.
Congress
has not failed to pass the defence bill in 60 years. The House will return on
Monday and the Senate on Tuesday, to override Trump’s veto.
Trump’s
extraordinary behaviour has presented his party with a painful political test,
not least for Georgia senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, fighting to
retain their seats in 5 January runoffs that will decide control of the Senate.
Senior
Republicans were mostly silent after Trump’s intervention on Covid relief,
neither Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell nor Kevin McCarthy, the House
minority leader, speaking publicly. On a conference call, House Republicans
complained that Trump had thrown them under the bus, one told the Associated
Press. Most had voted for the package and urged leaders to use the TV to
explain its benefits, the person said.
McCarthy
sent a letter to colleagues suggesting Republicans would offer their own
proposal, picking up on Trump’s complaints about foreign aid to “re-examine how
our tax dollars are spent overseas”. Democrats took advantage of Republican
disarray. Jon Ossoff, Perdue’s opponent, tweeted simply: “$2,000 checks now.”
The relief
package represents a hard-fought compromise, a 5,000-page bill that includes
$1.4tn to fund government through September 2021. The relief bill would
establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit, along with
new subsidies for businesses, schools, healthcare providers and renters facing
eviction.
Even though
treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin represented the White House in talks, Trump
railed against provisions in the broader funding package, including foreign aid
included each year, and called the bill a “disgrace”.
He did not
specifically vow to use his veto power, and there may be enough support in
Congress to override him if he does. The Senate cleared the relief package by
92-6, the House by 359-53.
The bill is
expected to be sent for Trump’s signature on Thursday or Friday, a
congressional aide told the AP. Trump could also allow it to expire with a
“pocket veto” at the end of the year.
The consequences
of failure would be severe. It would mean no federal aid to struggling
Americans and small businesses, and no additional resources to help with
vaccine distribution in a pandemic in which nearly 19 million have been
infected in the US and almost 326,000 have died.
Furthermore,
because lawmakers linked pandemic relief to funding, the government would shut
down on 29 December. A resolution could therefore be forced on Monday, when a
stopgap funding bill expires. Democrats are reportedly considering another
stopgap to keep government running until Biden is sworn in.
Biden
insisted to newspaper columnists on Wednesday that “there are enough
Republicans prepared to meet him in the middle that he can get things done in
an evenly divided Congress”. He applauded lawmakers and said the relief package
“provides vital relief at a critical time”. He also said more would be needed.
Arriving at
Mar-a-Lago, Trump was greeted by hundreds of supporters. According to the pool
report, few wore masks or socially distanced to mitigate Covid transmission as
they waved flags and signs and chanted “Four more years!”
One small
boy had a sign that said “We’re going to miss you”. But there were a few Trump
opponents too. One held a sign that said: “Go Away.”
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