President Donald #Trump on Sunday evening signed the $2.3 trillion pandemic relief and spending bill after reaching an agreement with Congress over #stimulus checks, Section 230, and #voterfraud, the White House said.https://t.co/opU4z0U8In
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) December 28, 2020
President Trump has signed a $2.3 trillion Covid stimulus package he had originally instructed Congress to revise. He vowed to keep fighting for the American people however, and pledged more in aid will be on the way.
In addition to an extension in unemployment benefits the package includes $600 in direct stimulus checks for Americans. The President had originally ordered Congress to raise that amount to $2,000. Senate Republicans stood in the way of that, although the House of Representatives is set to vote on a separate stand-alone bill for the $2,000 amount today and the Senate has vowed to start the process on a vote.
The bill also contains hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid and what is seen by many as wasteful spending – a bone of contention for many Americans. To address that issue President Trump said along with signing the bill, he will invoke the 1974 Impoundment Control Act to demand “rescissions” be made to the spending measures in question.
Under the Act, if the President wants to dispute spending on a specific program allocated by Congress he can seek “rescission” of that program by sending a special message to Congress identifying the amount he proposes to rescind, reasons for it, and the economic effects of the rescission.
“I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. 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,” he said.
The President also said both houses of Congress agreed to “focus strongly” on alleged voter fraud during the 2020 election and has agreed to review Section 230. Neither Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) nor House Speaker Nancy Pelosi mentioned such reviews in their statements however.