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PALM BEACH, Fla. / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Millions of Americans saw their unemployment benefits expire on Saturday after US President Donald Trump refused to enact a $ 2.3 trillion pandemic aid law and a spending package, protesting that he wasn’t doing enough to help ordinary people. .
Trump surprised Republicans and Democrats alike when he said this week he was unhappy with the huge bill, which provides $ 892 billion in much-needed coronavirus relief, including the extension of special unemployment benefits that expire on the 26th. December, and $ 1.4 trillion for normal public spending.
Without Trump’s signature, about 14 million people could lose those extra benefits, according to Labor Department data. The partial government shutdown will begin Tuesday unless Congress can agree to an interim government funding bill before then.
After months of bickering, Republicans and Democrats agreed on the package last weekend, with the support of the White House. Trump, who hands over power to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, did not object to the terms of the deal before Congress passed it on Monday night.
But he has since complained that the bill gives too much money to special interests, cultural projects and foreign aid, while its one-time $ 600 stimulus checks for millions of struggling Americans were too small. He has demanded that it be increased to $ 2,000.
“Why wouldn’t politicians want to give the people $ 2,000, instead of just $ 600? … Give our people the money!” The billionaire president tweeted on Christmas Day, much of which he spent playing golf at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Many economists agree that aid from the bill is too low, but say immediate support is still welcome and necessary.
A source familiar with the situation said Trump’s objection to the bill caught many White House officials by surprise. While the outgoing president’s strategy for the bill remains unclear, he has not vetoed it and could still sign it in the coming days.
On Saturday he was scheduled to remain in Mar-a-Lago, where the bill was sent and awaits his decision. Biden, whose November 3 election victory Trump refuses to acknowledge, is vacationing in his home state of Delaware and had no public events scheduled for Saturday.
(Report by Steve Holland at Mar-a-Lago and Richard Cowan in Washington; Additional Report by Simon Lewis in Delaware; Written by Michelle Price; Edited by William Mallard)
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