United States President Donald Trump attends a medal ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on December 3, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
In a stunning tweet Tuesday night, President Donald Trump called the US $ 900 billion Covid Aid Bill passed by Congress an inappropriate “disgrace” and called on lawmakers to make a number of changes to the measure, including larger direct payments to individuals and families.
Trump also suggested that his administration could be the “next administration,” despite losing to President-elect Joe Biden.
The president’s tweet, which included a video discussing the bill’s many shortcomings, came less than 24 hours after the Senate passed the measure.
Trump did not threaten a veto on the video and was expected to sign the legislation along with a $ 1.4 trillion spending bill to keep the government open.
“I’m asking Congress to change this bill and increase the ridiculously low $ 600 to $ 2,000 or $ 4,000 for a couple,” Trump said in the video.
Senate Majority Leader Speakers Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Chairman Chuck Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The amount of direct payments was a major sticking point in the final bill, which came after months of failed talks and false starts while the economy struggled to recover and hundreds of thousands of Americans died from the coronavirus.
GOP Senator Josh Hawley and independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who is negotiating with Democrats, had called for $ 1,200 checks for individuals, which would have matched what the government sent to people in the earlier stages of the pandemic this spring.
Trump also said if Congress fails to deliver the aid package it desires, it will be left to the next administration.
“And maybe I am that administration and we will make it,” he said.
Trump lost to Biden in the November election. However, the president continued to falsely insist that he did indeed win the election and that he was the victim of widespread electoral fraud. Several judges have denied Trump and Trump’s efforts in court to overturn Biden’s victory.
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