The US president specified that he will send back to Congress “a redlined version,” requesting that “wasteful items” be removed from the bill.
President Donald Trump has signed the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill, Washington Post reported on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, the signing took place on Sunday, while Trump was vacationing in Florida, the newspaper said citing anonymous sources. The president’s statement was released later in the day.
It appears that Trump has negotiated a commitment from the House and Senate to look into the “very substantial voter fraud” and to initiate a vote to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 and repeal Section 230, which has been criticized for facilitating the spread of disinformation online. Trump said in early December that Section 230 is a liability shielding gift from the US government to “Big Tech” and represents a serious threat to US national security and election integrity.
Earlier in the day, the president indicated on his Twitter page some “good news” was coming concerning the coronavirus stimulus.
Following months of stalled negotiations, on Monday, December 21, Republicans and Democrats managed to finally agree on a $900 billion coronavirus relief plan and a $1.4 trillion government spending allocation which was sent to President Trump for his signature. The COVID-19 relief included individual payments of $600 for qualifying Americans.
However, Trump criticized the $600 payments in the bill as a “disgrace”, calling for them to be raised to $2,000 per individual or $4,000 per family.
The Senate passed the bill with a 92-6 veto-proof margin, combined with a $1.4 trillion spending bill to keep the government running in 2021. Trump requested changes, calling on lawmakers to trim down the bill by removing “wasteful and unnecessary items.” He was particularly concerned that the $1.3 billion in aid money for Egypt and its military would likely be used to purchase military equipment from Russia.
The president-elect Joe Biden has urged Trump to sign the relief, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sided with the president’s call for $2,000 one-off stimulus payments for every American. The so-called progressive wing of the Democrat Party, including Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and also independent democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, also supported Trump’s proposal for $2,000 checks. Sanders, at the same time, called for the bill to be signed immediately.
The government spending allocation needed the president’s signature by December 29 to continue with weekly unemployment insurance for Americans and to prevent the government from shutting down, since the package will also fund government agencies through to September 2021.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
