President Donald Trump recently demanded for new legislation that sends more money to the American people. On Monday, The House of Representatives passed a bill that will increase citizen’s checks to $2,000. Two-thirds of the House quickly approved the bill. The final vote was 275 in favor of the bill and 134 who disapproved, the group that passed the legislation was every Democrat except for two of them and 44 Republicans who supported the legislation. 21 lawmakers did not cast a vote.
The bill will now be forwarded to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has yet to publicly endorse the legislation. Even though President Trump made public statements regarding his desire to veto the stimulus bill he signed it on Sunday, he is still advocating for new legislation that will give citizens $2,000 instead of $600. “As President, I have told Congress that I want far less wasteful spending and more money going to the American people in the form of $2,000 checks per adult and $600 per child.” Trump stated.
Political figures and citizens alike were confused by the President’s stance on the legislation last week. President Trump expressed that he was considering vetoing the second stimulus even though it had the support of both Democrats and Republicans. However, President Trump did not veto the measure, he instead approved the $2.3 trillion bill that extended unemployment benefits, increased support for food banks, rental assistance and a variety of other areas that impact the American people. His approval also provides $900 billion for coronavirus relief. The signing of the bill also prevented 14 million Americans from loosing unemployment benefits and a government shutdown that would have taken place this week.
After the bill was approved on Sunday, it went back to Congress and President Trump hoped they would add some new measures. However, it is important to keep in mind that the President does not have the power to bully Congress into a “line-item veto”, which has been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
While the final package was being discussed in Congress, the President was still on vacation. He made a surprise statement last Sunday via video that shocked members of both parties. “I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more,’ Trump said regarding the signing of the legislative package that a week prior he called a ‘disgrace.”
The President sent a statement to Congress with specific items he wants to be added or removed from the bill that passed. ”I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill,’ Trump said in the public statement. Many lawmakers in Washington are trying to figure out if the President is behaving unconstitutionally or not. There are only 23 days left of his administration, but President Trump seems like he wants to give more money to the citizens before he leaves office.
