Outgoing US President Donald Trump has created chaos in Washington DC just before he left for his vacation in Mar-A- Lago, Florida, after threatening on Tuesday night to veto the economic relief plan that took months to be agreed by Congress.
“This Thursday, on the morning of Christmas Eve, Republicans in the House of Representatives cruelly deprived the American people of the $2,000 the President agreed to support “, reacted Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democratic majority in the Lower House.
“If the president is serious about the $2,000 checks, he must ask the Republicans in the House of Representatives to end their obstruction,” he added.
Donald Trump has until December 28th to sign a relief package.
If the one that was agreed is not approved, the discussion and approval of a new project could be delayed for weeks, most likely until after the arrival of President-elect Joe Biden to the White House on January 20th, 2021.
Pelosi assured that next Monday she will take an independent bill to increase the economic impact payments to $2,000 before the House of Representatives.
“To vote against this bill is to deny the financial hardships families face and deny them the relief they need.”, he reiterated.
The Democratic leader also recalled that the Democrats in the Lower House and the Senate have repeatedly fought to achieve higher checks for the American people, but that the Republicans have repeatedly rejected: “first, during our negotiations when they said they would not go beyond $600 and now, with this act of insensitivity. “ Trump’s refusal of the $900 billion package, which is linked to $1.4 trillion government funds bill, could spark a federal shutdown at midnight Monday.
Millions of Americans are waiting for a new aid check this Christmas, as they are facing the economic crisis that the coronavirus pandemic has generated, while cases and deaths continue to skyrocket in the country: there are more than 18.2 million infections and more than 323,000 people have died (A figure that makes 2020 the deadliest year in American history.)
The country faces an atypical and dark Christmas. The week ending December 19th there were more than 800,000 applications for unemployment assistance. Total, 20.4 million Americans were receiving some form of unemployment benefits as of December 5th, 2020, according to figures from the Department of Labour.
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