GOP BLOCKS $2,000 Check Stimulus Package Offered by Democrats
House GOP members have blocked an attempt by Democrat lawmakers to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to increase COVID-19 relief checks from $600 to $2,000.
House GOP members have blocked an attempt by Democrat lawmakers to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to increase COVID-19 relief checks from $600 to $2,000.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sought to pass the new bill on Thursday which would replace the existing approved legislation after President Donald Trump asked congress to amend the bill approved earlier this week.
“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple,” President Donald Trump said in an address.
On Monday, House Speaker and democrat Nancy Pelosi had called the $600 stimulus checks “significant,” however on Thursday she said in a statement that “House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly fought for bigger checks for the American people, which House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly rejected – first, during our negotiations when they said that they would not go above $600 and now, with this act of callousness on the Floor.”
Democrats have signaled that they will again try to pass the measure through a ‘roll call’ vote on Dec. 28, also when a bi-partisan effort is planned to override Trump’s veto on the National Defense Authorization Act.
Trump also called the act a “gift” to U.S. adversaries, referring to China and Russia and
“My Administration recognizes the importance of the Act to our national security,” the president wrote to House members after vetoing the bill. “Unfortunately, the Act fails to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my Administration to put America first in our national security and foreign policy actions.“
The President also said that the NDAA opposes bringing more U.S. troops home, calling it “unconstitutional” to supersede his authority as commander-in-chief.
Likewise on Thursday, House Republicans sought unanimous consent on a measure which would permit the examination of U.S. funds spent on foreign aid – Democrats blocked that move.
On Tuesday, the President criticized excessive federal spending slated for international programs that he said was “wasteful and unnecessary items.”
President Trump said: “This bill contains $85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia; $134 million to Burma; $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian Military which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian Military equipment; $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan; $505 million to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama; $40 million for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which is not even open for business; $1 billion for the Smithsonian; and an additional $154 million for the National Gallery of Art; $7 million for reef fish management; $25 million to combat Asian carp; $2.5 million to count the number of Amber Jack fish in the Gulf of Mexico, a provision to promote the breeding of fish in federal hatcheries; $3 million in poultry production technology; $2 million to research the impact of downed trees; $566 million for construction projects at the FBI.”
“The bill also allows stimulus checks for the family members of illegal aliens, allowing them to get up to $1,800 each. This is far more than the Americans are given,” Trump continued.
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