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On Sunday, US President Donald Trump signed legislation to make a $ 2.3 trillion financial package to ease the coronavirus pandemic and government spending into law.
After signing the legislation away from the media at his golf club, he said that with the signature he sends “a strong message to Congress explaining the need to remove debris.”
He added, in a statement, “More money is on the way,” without providing anything to back up his promise.
The measure returned to millions of Americans the unemployment benefits they lost after Trump initially refused to sign the legislation and prevented the shutdown of part of the federal government’s activities in a crisis that he himself caused.
Trump, who will step down Jan.20 after losing the Nov.3 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has backed away from his earlier threat to block legislation passed by Congress last week after facing intense pressure from bipartisan legislators. And Republican.
The Republican president, who started playing golf on Sunday and lost the horizon as the government shutdown crisis loomed, demanded that Congress change the bill to increase the amount of incentive financial aid to Americans affected by the effects of the epidemic from 600 to 2000 dollars per person.
It is unclear why Trump, who refuses to acknowledge his electoral defeat, changed his mind about the stimulus package and his refusal to endorse it threatened to cause more chaos in the final hours of his presidency.
Trump has previously said that the bill allocates huge sums of money for special interests, cultural projects and foreign aid.
White House officials were silent on the reason that led Trump to reverse his position, but a source familiar with the matter said some aides urged him to back off on his lack of benefit in the rejection.
Many economists agree on the need to raise financial aid to stimulate the economy again, but say immediate support is still urgently needed for Americans affected by the pandemic.
On Saturday, unemployment benefits paid by the government to nearly 14 million through its pandemic-fighting programs expired, but will now resume after Trump signs the legislation.
The package includes $ 1.4 trillion in spending from government agencies.
Had Trump not signed the legislation, a partial shutdown of government activities would have begun on Tuesday, putting millions of employees at risk.
Source: Reuters
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