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Trump Threatens Not To Sign COVID-19 Bill, Wants Bigger Checks
WASHINGTON — After spending months on the sidelines while Congress tried to pass a coronavirus relief bill, President Donald Trump finally inserted himself into the conversation Tuesday night, seemingly with a veto threat, after lawmakers had already reached a deal, passed the bill and left town.
A bill that passed with veto-proof majorities — 359-53 in the House and 92-6 in the Senate — is now in jeopardy of not becoming law.
“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple,” the president said toward the end of a four-minute video he posted on Twitter. Trump also demanded that a tax break for corporate meal expenses, referred to as the “triple martini lunch deduction,” currently in the bill for two years, be made permanent.
If Congress doesn’t send a suitable replacement to his desk, the president said, “the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package, and maybe that administration will be me.”
Trump didn’t explicitly use the word “veto” in his video message, raising the possibility that he may ultimately sign the legislation.
It’s an awkward position for lawmakers on both sides. Democrats are positioning themselves with Trump that $600 for most Americans isn’t enough money, and they perhaps are hoping they can increase that total, even if it gives Trump a political win.
For Republicans, the situation is even more uncomfortable. It was GOP lawmakers, after all, who objected to increasing the size of direct stimulus checks. And the victory lap that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Georgia Senate candidates David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler were taking Tuesday has now been interrupted by a temperamental, lame-duck president who has suddenly decided he doesn’t like the final product.
Republican senators have made it very clear they do not see the stimulus checks as a priority.
The lone Republican senator who supports bigger stimulus...
