The Republican minority in the House of Representatives on Thursday blocked an attempt by the Democrats to change the contingency plan negotiated by both sides and President Donald Trump vetoed it, demanding an increase in the amount of aid.
After months of negotiations, Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, and Republicans, who dominate the Senate, agreed on a package worth $ 900,000 million on Monday to oxygenate an economy devastated by the crisis caused by COVID. 19. that has destroyed millions of jobs.
The deal was reached at a pivotal moment, before December 26, when a series of extraordinary aid agreed in an aid package approved at the start of the pandemic ended, leaving many households without any income.
On Tuesday night, Trump surprised lawmakers by rejecting the agreement reached, which includes an extraordinary $ 600 aid for those in need, and demanding that it be increased to 2,000 per person.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, unanimously tried on Thursday to approve an increase in aid to $ 2,000, but Republicans blocked the initiative.
“Today, on Christmas Eve, House Republicans cruelly stripped Americans of the $ 2,000 the president wanted to support,” Pelosi said.
The Democratic leader noted that if Trump takes his proposal seriously, he should urge Republicans to stop the “ obstruction. ”
Pelosi later reported that she had sent the bill passed Monday to Trump, asking him to sign it.
At the heart of the matter is the possibility that the president will not exercise the right of veto, but simply leave the deadline to sign, pushing the law into the next parliamentary term, which begins January 3.
Meanwhile, during Thursday’s session, Republicans tried to change the amount of foreign aid in the budget package – another Trump demand – and the opposition responded by blocking this proposal.
Faced with this maneuver, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives accused Democrats of suffering from “selective hearing” problems.
The session was thus suspended and the House will not meet until Monday 28 December.
– Serious consequences –
Both sides face an extraordinary election in Georgia on Jan. 5 that will determine two seats in the Senate and who will control the House.
With no time to maneuver, with an economy piling up layoffs as a result of the uncontrolled advance of Covid-19, it is not clear what the next step for Congress or the executive will be a few days before the next term begins. . January 3 and less than a month after Democrat Joe Biden arrives at the White House.
About 14 million unemployed Americans will use up their subsidies this weekend, also ending a moratorium on deportations in the dead of winter.
Lawmakers are also facing the threat that if the budget package is not approved, the government will run out of funding next Monday afternoon, a funding paralysis that could force the government to shut down operations and put its officials on leave without pay. .
This shutdown comes at a time when the pandemic, which kills more than 326,200 in the United States, more than in any other country, continues on the eve of the end-of-year holiday, with many displaced people and an increase in infections.
This would not be the first time in the Trump administration that negotiations with Congress have resulted in a budgetary paralysis, as in early 2019 a battle with Congress over its determination to obtain funds to build a wall on the border with Mexico led to a shutdown that lasted more than a month.
Despite the threat from the US economy, the New York Stock Exchange closed higher due to expectations generated by the start of the country’s covid-19 vaccination.