UPDATE—Dec. 29, 2020 – 12:30 a.m.: The House has voted (275 to 134) to increase COVID-19 relief payments for eligible people from $600 to $2000. Now the vote will go before the Senate, NBC News reports.
“The House and the President are in agreement: we must deliver $2,000 checks to American families struggling this Holiday Season,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted. “The House just passed the #CASHAct — it’s time for the Senate to do the same.”
Earlier:
After months of uncertainty, President Donald Trump has signed the $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill. This long-awaited signature will aid individuals and businesses in the wake of the pandemic. It will also avoid a government shutdown.
“I will sign the omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed,” Trump said in a formal statement issued on Sunday, December 27. “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.” His statement also claims that Congress, which concludes in 6 days, will further examine voter fraud.
Trump is not in favor of the relief bill, which includes $600 stimulus payments for Americans, claiming that payments are too low. This was the primary cause of his reluctance to sign it, which turned into a week-long delay that CNN has referred to as “creating chaos.” Instead, Trump pushed for $2000, an amount that had already been rejected by Republican senators.
“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,” his statement read.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called Trump’s signing “welcome news for the fourteen million Americans who just lost the lifeline of unemployment benefits on Christmas weekend, and for the millions more struggling to stay afloat during this historic pandemic and economic crisis.” Though it has come after the holidays, many are still looking forward to the small payment that will aid them in the new year.
Democrats believe that more financial assistance will be on the way once President-elect Biden takes office on January 21. Republicans, who are the majority in the Senate, will have to weigh in as well.