U.S. President Donald Trump waves from the South Lawn of the White House on Dec. 12, 2020.
President Trump refused to sign a $900 billion bailout bill just introduced by Congress, which he criticized for spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fund foreign programs unrelated to the U.S. epidemic, while sending ridiculously small amounts of bailout money to the American people. Democratic lawmakers later said they were willing to increase the bailout, but did not mention whether to withdraw some of the foreign aid programs.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said they were willing to increase the amount of aid after Trump publicly stated that he would veto a $900 billion Communist Party of China virus (COVID) relief bill submitted by Congress unless grants to Americans were raised to $2,000 per person, according to the Epoch Times (English edition).
In the end, the president agreed to $2,000,” Pelosi tweeted on Tuesday (22). By unanimous consent, Democrats are ready to put this into action this week. Let’s get to it!”
However, neither Pelosi nor other Democratic bigwigs have made clear whether they are willing to pull some foreign aid programs unrelated to the outbreak.
Earlier Tuesday, President Trump released a video message publicly shouting at Democrats that he would not sign off on the bailout bill unless the bailout for Americans was increased to $2,000 and unnecessary and very expensive foreign aid programs were dropped.
Trump strongly condemned the $900 billion epidemic relief bill submitted to him by Congress as a “disgrace”. He criticized the bill for spending large amounts of money on foreign projects that have nothing to do with the epidemic.
For example, the bill plans to give $85.5 million to Cambodia, $134 million to Myanmar, $1.3 billion to Egypt, $25 million to Pakistan, and $505 million to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
In addition, the bill even intends to put tens of millions of dollars into the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as well as the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian, or to pay to prevent the spread of Asian carp in the Great Lakes region, among other things.
In response, Trump noted, “Congress has found massive amounts of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending a minimal amount of money to the American people in need ……”
Trump also criticized the bill for allowing checks of up to $1,800 each for family members of illegal immigrants while only intending to give hard-working taxpayers $600 each for relief.
He asked Congress to amend the bill to raise the bailout to $2,000 for Americans or $4,000 for a couple; to use more bailout money to aid small and medium-sized businesses and the restaurant industry, which have been hard hit by the epidemic; and to get rid of wasteful and unnecessary programs. He said that unless Congress re-sends him a “proper” amendment, the bill will have to wait for the “next administration” to approve it. He went on to say that “the next administration will probably be me”.
Many lawmakers also posted on social media platforms on Monday night complaining that they did not have enough time to go through the bills in the 5,500-page bill introduced by Congress.
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