Trump Lambasts $900 billion Covid Relief Bill, Demands Increase In Direct Payments To Americans From “Ridiculously Low”$600 To $2,000

U.S President Donald Trump on Tuesday(Dec 22) rejected the $900 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief deal passed by Congress, saying the bill has “almost nothing to do with Covid” and called on lawmakers to increase direct payments to Americans to $2,000 from $600.

Calling the bill a "disgrace", Trump said that he wanted Congress to increase the amount in the stimulus checks to $2,000 for individuals or $4,000 for couples, instead of the "ridiculously low" $600 for individuals currently in the bill.

“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple,” he said in a tweeted video.

"I'm also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation, and just send me a suitable bill."

Trump also said a two-year tax break for corporate meal expenses was "not enough" to help struggling restaurants.

In the four-minute video, Trump also trashed the legislation for including, among other things, what he said was "$85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia, $134 million to Burma, $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian military, which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment, $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan, $505 million to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Forty million for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which is not even open for business, $1 billion for the Smithsonian and an additional $154 million for the National Gallery of Art."

If the president vetoes the legislation the US government could shut down on 29 December because the package was attached to a $1.4tn spending measure to fund federal agencies for the next nine months.

The U.S lawmakers on Sunday (Dec 20) reached a deal on a nearly $900 billion economic stimulus package after months of stalled negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.

The $900 billion package is the second largest economic stimulus in U.S history after the $2.2 trillion pandemic relief bill that was in March this year.

The bill passed by the Congress approved a $600 direct payment to many Americans and $300 a week as enhanced federal unemployment benefits for about 10 weeks.It also approved aid to be extended for schools, vaccine distribution and small businesses. The relief bill also included about $325 billion in small business relief, and $257 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, which grants loans to distressed small businesses to help them avoid laying off employees.

The stimulus payments to individuals in the bill were smaller than the $1,200 and $500 payments approved in March.