Trump Threatens to Sink COVID-19 Relief Bill Unless Congress Cuts Wasteful Spending, Spends More on $2,000 Stimulus Checks
COVID-19 relief might now be in jeopardy following a late night rant from President Donald Trump, who demanded that Congress cut wasteful spending from its $2.3 trillion spending package while also approving additional spending: $2,000 stimulus checks for all Americans.
“The bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated,” said Trump in his remarks Tuesday evening. “It truly is a disgrace.”
The 5,000-page, $2.3 trillion legislative package passed by Congress on Monday included two different bills: a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill and the $900 billion dedicated to pandemic relief.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2020
“It’s called the COVID relief but it has almost nothing to do with COVID,” said Trump, referring to the two bills interchangeably.
Of particular concern to the president were a number of admittedly dubious appropriations for foreign aid, scientific research, and federal facilities in the omnibus spending bill.
“This bill contains $85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia, $134 million to Burma, $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian military, which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment,” said Trump. “$40 million for the Kennedy Center which is not even open for business. $1 billion for the Smithsonian, and an additional $154 million for the National Gallery of Art. Likewise, these facilities are essentially not open.”
In total, Trump explicitly named some $4 billio
Article from Latest – Reason.com
