Washington DC, SAEDNEWS, Dec. 28: US President Donald Trump, on holiday in Florida, has finally signed a $2.3 trillion financial package that is crucial to millions of jobless Americans, after coming under pressure from legislators.
The White House confirmed the outgoing president had signed the bill shortly after he tweeted: “Good news on Covid Relief Bill. Information to follow.”
Trump, who has been pictured playing golf at his Mar-a-Lago resort over the Christmas weekend, had been under pressure from legislators on both sides to stop blocking the pandemic aid and government funding bill, which had been approved by Congress last week.
The Republican president had demanded the bill be changed to increase the size of stimulus cheques for struggling Americans to $2,000 from $600, putting not only the enormous package of economic and public-health assistance at risk, but the basic functioning of the government itself.
“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,” Trump said in a statement announcing he had signed the bill.
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said the president was “sending a strong message” that “wasteful items” needed to be removed from the bill and added that a “redlined” version would be sent back to Congress with a requirement that such items be removed from the bil (Source: AlJazeera).
