Palm Beach, Florida – After throwing a grenade that threatens to blow up a massive COVID bill for emergency relief and government funding and force a government shutdown amid a pandemic, President Trump spent the day before Christmas playing golf in Florida. If you disagree on the bill, deny it checks to millions of Americans on the edge.
Trump had no events on his public calendar on the first day of his winter vacation Thursday, but traveled to his Palm Beach golf club, where he was spotted by CNN cameras on the links. Reporters were not given details of his daily schedule, but said, “As the holiday season approaches, President Trump will work tirelessly for the American people. His schedule includes many meetings and calls.”
Trump also had no public events on his Christmas Day agenda, but the White House news agency reiterated, “During the holiday season, President Trump will work tirelessly for the American people. His agenda includes many meetings and phone calls.”
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Mr. Trump’s trip to Florida came as Washington was still in doubt about its astonishing eleventh-hour demand that a year-end spending bill negotiated by Congressional leaders for months on end, most Americans $ 2,000 COVID checks – far more than the $ 600 members of his own party had agreed to. The idea was quickly rejected by House Republicans Thursday, leaving the proposal in limbo.
CBS News confirmed that the coronavirus control and government spending bill were flown to Florida on Thursday evening so the president would sign – or exercise his right of veto – should he so choose.
The bipartisan compromise was considered a done deal and had received wide approval in the House and Senate this week after the White House assured GOP leaders that Trump supported it.
If he refuses to sign the deal, which is tied to a $ 1.4 trillion government funding bill, it will force a federal government shutdown, in addition to delaying aid checks and shutting down unemployment benefits and avoidance protections in the middle of the most terrible period of the pandemic.
It was a final expression of discontent with the Republicans from a president who raged over his election loss against President-elect Biden and tried with new, increasingly scandalous schemes to attempt to overturn the results. He has been urged by allies such as his lawyer, the former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, who accompanied the President to Florida aboard Air Force One.
Mr. Trump’s anger has been directed in part at the Republicans in Congress who he believes have given insufficient support to his quest to delegitimize Mr. Biden’s victory by defending previously baseless claims of massive voter fraud. Congress meets to clear the Electoral College Voting on January 6.
In Florida, Mr. Trump continued to rant about the results, complaining to members that he had been deprived of the election, and expressing frustration with the end-of-year spending bill.
“At a rally in Florida today, everyone wondered why the Republicans aren’t in the fray and fighting over the Democrats stealing the fake presidential election?” tweeted the president after returning to his private club Mar-a-Lago. “Especially in the Senate, they said, where you helped 8 senators win their races.”
“I will never forget it!” he wrote in another.
The statements underscored concerns that Mr. Trump is blowing up negotiations to punish lawmakers for what he sees as their lack of loyalty.
The president has provided no credible evidence to support his election claims, which have also been refuted by a long list of officials, from former Attorney General William Barr to Republican governors, judges and local election administrators.
Meanwhile, the nation continues to falter as the coronavirus spreads, with record infections and hospitalizations now killing more than 329,000. And millions of people now face the prospect of spending the holidays alone or struggling to make ends meet without adequate income, food or shelter thanks to the economic toll of the pandemic.
Democratic House Chairman Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been trying to save the year-end bill to try to prevent a government shutdown.
Democrats will recall House lawmakers to Washington for a vote Monday on Mr. Trump’s $ 2,000 proposal, though it would likely die in the GOP-controlled Senate. They are also considering voting on an emergency measure Monday to at least avert a federal shutdown and keep the government going until Mr. Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
In addition to the emergency checks, the passed COVID law would establish a temporary supplemental unemployment benefit of $ 300 per week, provide a new round of funding for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools, and bring in money for healthcare providers and to help distribute COVID vaccines