President Donald Trump signed the massive $900 billion COVID relief bill and $1.4 trillion spending package, which Congress tied together for expediency, to keep the government funded through September.
Trump railed against the COVID bill because it only gives the American people $600.
But it appears he signed this bill since the Democrats “prepped a bill to provide for $2,000 payment checks.”
Unemployment benefits lapsed for people over the weekend but will pick up again now that Trump signed the bill.
However, payments might get delayed.
From The Wall Street Journal:
The bill would also extend the maximum number of weeks a person can claim unemployment benefits to 50 weeks. It would provide an additional $100-a-week subsidy for workers who have both wage and self-employment income but whose basic unemployment benefits don’t take into account their self-employment income.It would also give unemployed Americans a supplemental benefit of up to $300 a week, a cut from the previous $600 a week that was approved in April, and ended in the summer.The legislation would extend until the end of January 2021 a federal eviction prohibition and provide $25 billion of assistance to tenants in arrears on their rent. It also contains billions of dollars to help airlines, small businesses, entertainment venues and farms, as well as money to help Americans get vaccinated from the virus.
But Trump objected to the massive pork inside of the spending package. This includes $26.5 billion “to foreign countries for development assistance, global health programs and humanitarian assistance” and “$55.5 billion for discretionary funding in overseas operations.”
$10 million to Pakistan for gender programs. $700 million to Sudan. There are others:
Exhibit E: Another $40 million will be allocated “for the necessary expenses for the operation, maintenance and security” of The Kennedy Center, which received $25 million in another COVID-19 relief bill earlier this year. Also in a related story, the Kennedy Center has been closed. Exhibits F, G, H, I, J: $86 million for assistance to Cambodia; $130 million to Nepal, $135 million to Burma, $453 million to Ukraine, $700 million to Sudan. Exhibit K: The bill creates a Women’s History Museum and an American Latino Museum as part of the Smithsonian. Overall, the Smithsonian gets (checks notes again) $1 billion.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY