Comings, exits, and reasons for Trump’s decision to sign key last-minute aid package

Donald trump pulled the rope all he could but in the end it ended giving under heavy pressure from lawmakers – even those in his own party – and enacted the huge Sunday night relief package for Americans affected by the coronavirus crisis, which the president called “shame”. By the deadline, Trump extended profits to millions of people and businesses affected by the pandemic and ultimately averted chaos – economic, social and political – of unimaginable proportions.

The legislative package will set aside around $ 900 billion for vaccine distribution, funding for U.S. schools, small businesses, hospitals and families, and the money needed to keep government open for the rest of the year fiscal. The aid was approved by Democratic and Republican lawmakers last Monday, but Trump refused to enact it because he saw it as a “shame” and wanted, among other things, Americans to receive $ 2,000 in cash. instead of 600 provided for by law.

Finally, Trump enacted it less than 48 hours after the government shut down due to lack of funds and days before a moratorium on eviction and other fundamental aid measures due to the expiration of the pandemic, which already has 19 million cases in the United States. and 333,000 deaths. But it also came after two unemployment assistance programs fell due to a lack of legislative support, resulting in delayed benefits for millions of unemployed Americans.

When everything was going well, the crisis it was generated by Trump himself. In a move that surprised lawmakers and White House officials, the president in a video made an implicit threat of a veto over the package, which his top lawmakers had helped negotiate and which both houses of Congress had passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. last Tuesday. The voluminous legislative plan – 5,593 pages – flew to Florida on Thursday, where the president is spending his year-end vacation, and has been waiting in vain for Trump’s agreement ever since. It was not until Sunday evening that he promulgated it.

The president, who has yet to recognize Joe Biden’s victory and continues to argue without proof that the November 3 election was “stolen” from him, has played the card of increasing direct aid to Americans because it would be a political gesture in the face of his possible candidacy in 2024, and that in addition it would be free for him because the weight of this expense will have to be paid the future government by Biden.

In addition, the president look up votes for a crucial January 5 election in Georgia, where Trump needs the triumph of two Republican senators to rejoice after his loss in November, but above all to secure the majority in the National Senate that would fall to the Democrats if they lose in Georgia .

Republican lawmakers, who have been battling for weeks in Congress over the aid package, were happy with the deal which had been overseen by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin himself. But they were surprised how Trump, who had remained silent during the talks, tore it all to pieces in a minute.

In Washington, the huge paradox that a Republican president demanded to increase public spending with direct controls on citizens, while this party is a fierce enemy of subsidies and an advocate of fiscal austerity. Some lawmakers from the party’s more progressive wing, like Alexandra Ocasio Cortez and Bernie Sanders, have welcomed Trump’s idea of ​​increasing profits.

But from the more conservative Republican ranks, they shouted, “He wants to give $ 2,000 in individual checks because this money doesn’t belong to him.” It’s socialism, ”yelled former national security adviser John Bolton.

Trump’s turn came after a day of phone calls government and opposition lawmakers, who sought to avert social and economic disaster, especially for the population the most vulnerable. “I understand that you want to be remembered for pushing for more important controls, but the danger is that you will remember the chaos, misery and erratic behavior if you let it expire,” said the Republican Senator Pat Toomey.

Most importantly, Republican MPs told him they were unwilling to increase grants: Trump then I would carry the political weight that the government was shut down amid the pandemic and that millions in profits for the most vulnerable plummeted at the end of the year, just before the elections in Georgia.

The president had no choice but to give in. In his statement on Sunday, Trump continued to push for checks for taxpayers experiencing the most financial difficulties to be increased to more than triple the $ 600 originally planned, but did not say how. He also criticized again that the plan includes too much spending on programs that have nothing to do with the pandemic. However, he did not explain why he had waited for the text to be approved to make his opinion public.

Washington, correspondent