Within 24 hours of Congress finally passing a covid relief package, President Trump angerly sent the bill back to Congress and demands a larger dividend for stimulus checks of $2,000.
Shortly after White House officials said the President would sign the over 5,500 page document, he shared his frustrations with the bill that he called a “disgrace.”
Trump was upset that the American people were not getting more money in stimulus. Congress had agreed upon $600 per taxpayer, with some exceptions. President Trump throughout the summer and fall has voiced that he wanted much more money in the checks.
On top of that of all that, the President listed some of the ridiculous things that Congress also wanted to fund. Here is a list of some the of the absurd things that wanted to pass:
- $169,739,000 to Vietnam, including $19 million to remediate dioxins (page 1476).
- Unspecified funds to “continue support for not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Kabul, Afghanistan that are accessible to both women and men in a coeducational environment” (page 1477).
- $198,323,000 to Bangladesh, including $23.5 million to support Burmese refugees and $23.3 million for “democracy programs” (page 1485).
- $130,265,000 to Nepal for “development and democracy programs” (page 1485).
- Pakistan: $15 million for “democracy programs” and $10 million for “gender programs” (page 1486).
- Sri Lanka: Up to $15 million “for the refurbishing of a high endurance cutter,” which is a type of patrol boat (page 1489).
- $505,925,000 to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to “address key factors that contribute to the migration of unaccompanied, undocumented minors to the United States” (pages 1490-1491).
- $461,375,000 to Colombia for programs related to counternarcotics and human rights (pages 1494-1496).
- $74.8 million to the “Caribbean Basin Security Initiative” (page 1498).
- $33 million “for democracy programs for Venezuela” (page 1498).
- Unspecified amount to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Curacao, and Trinidad and Tobago “for assistance for communities in countries supporting or otherwise impacted by refugees from Venezuela” (page 1499).
- $132,025,000 “for assistance for Georgia” (page 1499).
- $453 million “for assistance for Ukraine” (page 1500).
Soon thereafter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi retweeted Trump’s video and put the blame on Republicans as she tweeted she wants to get the stimulus amount raised to $2k as well. She did not, however, tweet about the other arbitrary things that the President complained about.
Not long after, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted this:
The day before Trump made his speech, Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin released a statement sharing his content with Congress passing the bill.
I am pleased that the United States Senate and House of Representatives have passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. I want to thank President Trump for his leadership and Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy for working with the Administration to provide critical additional economic relief for American workers, families, and businesses that, through no fault of their own, have been adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
This bipartisan legislation will provide another round of Economic Impact Payments to eligible individuals and families, renew the Paycheck Protection Program to support small businesses and their employees, ensure needed access to unemployment benefits for Americans who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19, and provide additional funding for schools, vaccine distribution, and other important sectors of the economy.
We are fully committed to ensuring that hardworking Americans get this vital support as quickly as possible and to further strengthening our economic recovery.
Steve Mnuchin
Pelosi’s call to alter the bill by unanimous consent means that a single objection would keep the checks at $600, a probable scenario for legislation that had 53 “no” votes in the House in its current form. The vote could come on Christmas Eve and lead to a delay in the $600 checks, which Mnuchin said some Americans could see as early as next week if the bill were signed into law.
Rashida Tlaib, Democratic Representative from Michigan, tweeted that her and AOC were ready to also support the President. “Glad to see the President is willing to support our legislation.” “We can pass $2k checks this week if the Senate GOP agrees to stand down.”
With the response from the President and Democrats, Republicans will either have to raise the stimulus amount or go against the President.
On December 26th, the day following Christmas, unemployment benefits will end for 12 million Americans. On the 28th, government funding will have run out. On December 31st, New Years Eve, the rent moratoriums come to an end, which could lead to millions to be homeless.
Back To Square One Again
The following is from ZeroHedge:
Following Pelosi’s earlier plea to Republicans to agree to a bill calling for $2,000 stimulus checks which she will put to a vote in the House on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he would object to a bill boosting stimulus payments for individuals to $2,000, Bloomberg reports citing a person who participated in a private call with GOP House members. Furthermore, the Republican also plans to offer a new Continuing Resolution separating state and foreign aid from the omnibus. And since McCarthy’s position will see objection from Dems, we are – as CNBC’s Kayla Tausche puts it – “Back at square one.”
If the measure fails on Thursday, which it now appears certain to do, Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal will introduce a new bill, called the Cash Act, to be put on the floor Monday. That bill would codify the larger stimulus payments, Pelosi told Democrats in a private call on Wednesday, according to a person on the call.
Trump’s demand for bigger checks came alongside various complaints about the tens of billions in pork, including hundreds of millions in foreign aid, contained in the $2.3 trillion ($900 billion in Covid-19 relief with $1.4 trillion in government funding) bill, which was passed with big bipartisan support on Monday despite virtually nobody reading the 5,500+ pages of the full legislation.
If Trump does not sign the approved legislation by Dec. 28, the government may shut down after midnight due to lack of approved funding: “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 said in her letter.
Before McCarthy’s comment, Pelosi said she planned to convene the House at 9 a.m. Thursday, although that may now be moot. If her unanimous-consent request is blocked, Pelosi would then need to decide whether they want to the bring it before the entire House for a roll-call vote.
As we explained earlier, stocks mostly shrugged off the news on the complications in Washington and on the economy because as Vital Knowledge founder Adam Crisafulli wrote, Trump’s criticism and veto threat, “won’t alter the macro narrative” and that “even if Trump actually vetoes (unlikely) and Congress fails to override it (also unlikely, given the stimulus/budget passed with veto-proof majorities), this will only delay the inevitable by 27 days (which would be unfortunate, but not material).”
“The big debate isn’t whether the $900b stimulus gets passed into law but instead if it represents a ‘down payment’ or the last major fiscal response to the pandemic,” with the outcome of Georgia Senate races in early January playing a “big role in answering that question.”
Raymond James analyst Ed Mills’ base case remains that the bill passed by Congress will become law, as the package passed both the House and the Senate with veto-proof margins, and $2,000 payments have no support among Republican lawmakers. He added that Trump’s “demand is arguably a net positive for Democrats’ chances in the Georgia Senate races, as Republicans will be forced on the defensive.”
Trump Vetoes The Military Bill
The additional military spending we reported to you the day previous, has been officially vetoed by the President.
Nancy Pelosi tweeted that the decision to do so was reckless.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Truthfully I am not surprised by these actions, as I pointed out in our initial report detailing some of the boondoggling contained in this “relief package” (more accurately called the “trauma package”). The stuff that was logjammed into that package is just beyond disgusting as it is hard to put into words how asinine the garbage that is thrown in there is.
We are right back where we started. Because of this, I seriously cannot help but wonder if a legitimate “Dark Winter” is about ready to occur. With more snow and cold temperatures rolling in for the Christmas weekend, millions are facing eviction and their benefits dried up – is all the more reason we all need to stay in fervent prayer and fastings often.
Everyone involved is to be blamed for this insanity! This is all apart of the Hegelian Dialectic to continually tear down everything that is left of the middle class and this abysmal economy.
Whatever happens, it is a lose-lose situation, as I pointed out in my report covering the stimulus bill passed by Congress. If nothing is done, more businesses and households will collapse. If more stimulus is passed, then that means even more debt that will never be paid off, more indebted slaves to the government, continually playing the music as the Titanic sinks, and the bigs get bigger as “The Great Reset” is further ushered in.
I also mentioned in that report to not forget. Hitler knew that for effective propaganda to work, you have to continually harp on the slogans and chosen narrative, and eventually people will accept it – around the same time they forget the facts.
In Trump’s speech blasting the disgraceful package – go back to 1:22 into the speech. He mentioned several things getting funding, all of which are shutdown, as he points out. The package includes $40 million going to the Kennedy Center in D.C., $1 billion going to the Smithsonian, and $154 million to the National Gallery of Art.
Well, back when the CARES Act was passed, Trump acknowledged and was fine with money going to some of these same establishments. The Kennedy Center received $25 million and the Smithsonian received $7.5 million, and National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities both received $75 million as well.
It was $35 million but we took off 10, but I am a fan of that,” he said. “The Kennedy Center has suffered greatly because no one can go there. It is essentially closed. And they do need some funding. I said, ‘Look, that was a Democrat request. That was not my request.’ And I said, you have got to give them something. It is something that they wanted. The Democrats have treated us fairly.
President Donald Trump
Granted, there is definitely a much more significant price differential in this package then the first, but for Trump to chasten this package while being totally fine with it the first time is hypocrisy.
[29] When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only: [30] That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.Job 34:29-30
As I have said in my initial report reviewing the boondoggling, the President and all the rest do not have your best interest: all of this is by design.
REMEMBER: This is the same president who is on record tweeting that the American Dollar is “too strong” and is actually HURTING us according to him!
And then this hypocrite turns right around and blames the Feds for creating a weaker dollar – even though that is what he wants! We documented in our report “Is There A “V-Shaped Recovery?” that the Feds WANT inflation and a weaker dollar: that is stock market positive, which will help bring in the bankster’s new digital dollar and allow the big corporate overlords to gain even further control of the market. The same markets Trump boasts about and claims is going up like a “rocket-ship.” You can’t make this stuff up!
If you have not seen this video of President Trump signing the CARES Act, you need to. Just watch as he and the traitors that stand around him act all giddy and laugh and heckle as they sign $6.2 trillion dollars of useless garbage that helped no one but the bigs. Just watch it; and remember that Trump, the Democrats and Republicans, are not here to help you and I.
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Proverbs 29:2
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy
-President James Madison
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