Stimulus package up in air as Trump’s demand rejected by House Republicans

WASHINGTON: The US$ 900 billion (RM3.6 trillion) relief plan is up in the air over Christmas after House Republicans have rejected President Donald Trump’s demand to raise direct payments to Americans, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday blocked an attempt from House Democrats to raise the bill’s 600-dollar (RM2,436) direct payment checks to 2,000 (RM8,121) dollars, a figure demanded by Trump.

The House and Senate both approved the package late Monday, along with US$ 1.4 trillion (RM5.6 trillion) in government funding for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, 2021, sending the giant spending bill to the president to sign into law.

“The bipartisan Covid relief & omnibus bill has been enrolled,“ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, top Democrat in the lower chamber, wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday. “The House & Senate are now sending this important legislation #ForThePeople to the White House for the President’s signature. We urge him to sign this bill into law to give immediate relief to hard-working families!”

Rare alignment

On Tuesday, Trump said in a video that he wanted Congress to increase the amount in the stimulus checks, calling the 600 dollars for individuals “ridiculously low.”

Pelosi then retweeted the video and said Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the president wanted for direct checks.

“At last, the President has agreed to 2,000 dollars — Democrats are ready to bring this to the floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it!” said Pelosi.

It was a rarity that Democrats and the White House, who have been caught in bitter partisanship in the last four years, joined in calling for a larger stimulus package, experts said.

The US$ 900 billion package would be the second-largest relief deal after the US$ 2 trillion (RM8.1 trillion) CARES Act that Congress approved in March.

The relief measure came after Democratic and Republican lawmakers finally reached a deal on Sunday, following months of deadlock over the size and scope of the package.

For Democrats, the package is much smaller than the US$ 3.4 trillion (RM13.8 trillion) proposal they passed in the House in May, and down from the US$ 2.2 trillion (RM8.9 trillion) trimmed version they offered in October.

Some Senate Republicans, however, insisted on a relief package below US$ 1 trillion (RM4.06 trillion), and had previously pushed for a US$ 500 billion (RM2.03 trillion) bill.

Democrats would by and large gladly increase the size of the direct payments while many Republicans in Congress think US$ 600 dollars is too high, Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua.

“This also gives the Democrats in Georgia’s two U.S. Senate races a chance to attack their opponents over this issue,“ Galdieri added.

Democrats flipped one net seat in general elections and currently control 48 seats in the Senate, while Republicans have won 50 seats. Two seats are still up for grabs in Georgia as the state’s Senate elections head to runoffs in January. — Bernama