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- President Donald Trump left Washington on Wednesday to spend the vacation at his private resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
- House Democrats, meanwhile, will try to pass a measure on Thursday providing stimulus checks of $ 2,000 as part of the COVID-19 relief program.
- Earlier in the week, Trump called on Congress to increase the amount of stimulus payments from the $ 600 included in the package he was supposed to sign.
- If Trump does not sign this stimulus package within the next five days, he will effectively have vetoed it, sending the measure back to Congress.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump left DC on Wednesday to spend the vacation at his private resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, a day before Congress plans to consider $ 2,000 stimulus checks as part of the COVID relief program -19.
On Tuesday night, Trump plunged Washington into a frenzy when he criticized the bipartisan stimulus package that Congress had just passed. On Wednesday afternoon, the lame president vetoed the defense spending bill that had been passed by both houses with overwhelming support.
It’s unclear when Trump will return to Washington. As USA Today noted, an alert from the Federal Aviation Administration says it is scheduled to leave Palm Beach at 6:45 p.m. on January 1. If it stays that long, the already adopted $ 900 billion stimulus package could automatically be challenged. not to sign it.
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the president’s intention to veto the current stimulus package.
The White House press office, however, insisted the president would stay busy, saying in A declaration that his schedule “includes many meetings and calls.”
In the meantime, Democrats are set to make known on Thursday Trump’s stated desire for stronger stimulus controls. According to Jeff Stein of the Washington PostDemocrats will seek to approve the $ 2,000 payments – up from $ 600 in the existing stimulus package – by unanimous consent, which means it would pass unless any member of Congress objects.
If that effort fails, Democrats will hold a vote on stand-alone legislation on Monday, December 28, the Post reported.
The effort comes after Trump in particular said the package, which he was supposed to sign, did not include significant enough stimulus checks.
It was the Democrats who first proposed direct payments of $ 2,000. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris co-sponsored legislation in the Senate that would provide checks every month until the end of the pandemic. In the House, centrist Democrats and Liberals backed a complementary measure, but the packed stimulus that this house passed in May only included a one-time check for $ 1,200.
Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have sought to limit the amount of direct payments to Americans and now must decide whether they want to oppose Trump or give in and save face politically.
Most Americans say checks for $ 600 weren’t enough. According to a recent survey by Insider and SurveyMonkey, 76% of respondents said the payout should be $ 1,000 or more, and 43% said it should be $ 2,000 or more.
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