US President Donald Trump he refused to sign a bill containing an anti-COVID-19 economic aid package already approved by a large majority in Congress, with the support of both Democrats and Republicans. American newspapers write that Trump’s refusal risks causing the loss of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans, already in difficulty due to the crisis caused by the pandemic; moreover, it could jeopardize the aid allocated to businesses and families, which will expire at the end of the year.
The aid package, worth about 900 billion dollars, was approved by Congress after long negotiations between Democrats and Republicans: it was also negotiated by the Secretary of the Treasury, a member of the Trump government, and until a few days ago the same President did not seem to want to oppose the content of the agreement.
Trump justified his choice by arguing that the $ 600 that should go to Americans who earn less than $ 75,000 a year is not a sufficient amount of money: he proposed that they get to give them $ 2,000, a proposal which, however, was rejected by the Republicans in Congress (therefore by his own party). He also criticized the fact that too much money was reserved in the text for cultural projects and aid for foreign countries.
I simply want to get our great people $2000, rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill. Also, stop the billions of dollars in “pork”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2020
The law on the aid package in question is tied to the federal budget for next year. If Congress does not pass a provisional bill before Monday, a partial government shutdown will begin on Tuesday.
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