In a four-minute video posted on Twitter, Trump suggested he might not sign the legislation Congress overwhelmingly passed on this week, which included $900 billion in coronavirus relief and $1.4 trillion to fund the government until October.
“[A] few months ago, Congress started negotiations on a new package to get urgently needed help to the American people. It’s taken forever. However, the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. It really is a disgrace,” Trump said in the video.
“Despite all of this wasteful spending and much more, the $900 billion package provides hardworking taxpayers with only $600 each in relief payments, and not enough money is given to small businesses, and in particular restaurants, whose owners have suffered so grievously.”
The president also slammed some of the bill components such as $85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia and $40 million for the Kennedy Center in Washington.
He claimed they were wasteful.
He also claimed the bill provided more stimulus funds for noncitizens than citizens.
The proposed bill will also establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.
The US government is currently funded through Dec. 28 as part of a stopgap bill and contains other end-of-session priorities such as money for cash-starved transit systems, an increase in food stamp benefits and about $4 billion to help other nations provide a COVID-19 vaccine for their citizens.
Trump’s demands come after Congress closed to go for the Christmas holiday. The Senate is supposed to return Dec. 29, a day after government funding is set to expire, in order to override a possible veto on another bill with strong bipartisan backing: the National Defense Authorization Act.
Watch the video below.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2020
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