President-elect Biden demanded that incumbent President Trump immediately sign a bill on an economic aid package to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Formally, Trump wants to triple payments to Americans, but because of his stubbornness, the United States is threatened with a new “shutdown”, and millions of Americans unemployed are at risk of losing benefits.
According to Biden, Trump’s refusal to sign the economic aid document is showing devastating irresponsibility.
“The gloomy mood of President Donald Trump is getting worse – and the country is suffering from his anger,” analyzes the actions of the current head of the White House CNN. – Furious over the admission by Republican leaders in the Senate that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden, Trump has so far rejected the coronavirus stimulus package they negotiated with Democrats and his own administration, depriving millions of Americans without benefits from unemployment and embarrassing their former political allies. ”
Congress has already approved a package of anti-crisis measures of about $ 900 billion. In particular, following these measures, an increase in unemployment benefits is expected until March. There are also lump-sum payments to Americans for $ 600.
As Reuters notes, after much debate, Republicans and Democrats ultimately agreed to the package, backed by the White House. Trump, who hands over power to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, did not object to the terms of the deal before Congress voted for it on Monday night. But after that Trump began to complain that the bill was allocating too much money for cultural projects and foreign aid, while providing stimulus checks for 600 dollars to the million Americans affected by the pandemic was too small. Therefore, Trump said that payments should be increased to $ 2,000. Insisting on his own, the current head of the White House threatened to veto the bill otherwise.
“I just want our wonderful people to get $ 2,000 and not the pitiful $ 600 now billed,” Trump tweeted Saturday from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is on vacation.
“Republicans should stop playing their games while Americans are starving,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren sharply criticized the president’s actions. And Joe Biden recalled that if the current head of state does not immediately sign the bill, then about 10 million Americans may be left without unemployment benefits.
“It’s the day after Christmas, and millions of families don’t know if they can make ends meet because President Donald Trump refused to sign an economic aid bill passed by Congress with an overwhelming and bipartisan majority,” Biden said.
The economic aid package must be adopted as part of the budget approval for the next fiscal year. If Trump does not sign the document by December 28, it will lead to a “shutdown”, the suspension of the American government. Recall that due to contradictions around the budget at the turn of 2018-2019, a situation arose with the “shutdown”, which lasted a record five weeks in the history of the United States.
So the partial closure of government offices could begin as early as Tuesday, jeopardizing the incomes of millions of civil servants if Congress does not agree on a temporary government funding bill.
