US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called on President Donald Trump to push Republicans to pass COVID-19 relief legislation that includes direct payments of $2,000.
"Today, on Christmas Eve morning, House Republicans cruelly deprived the American people of the $2,000 that the President agreed to support," Pelosi said in a statement. "If the President is serious about the $2,000 direct payments, he must call on House Republicans to end their obstruction."
After months of bickering, Republicans and Democrats agreed at the weekend on a $900 billion coronavirus relief plan and a $1.4 trillion government spending allocation which Congress passed on Monday and sent to Trump for his signature. The COVID-19 relief included a $600 individual payment for qualifying Americans.
Trump, whose term ends on January 20, stayed out of the negotiations for weeks. But he stunned both sides on Tuesday by refusing to sign what he was sent, calling the $600 of personal aid due under the package a "disgrace", and demanded that it be boosted to $2,000 an individual or $4,000 per family.
The government spending allocation needs the president’s signature by December 29 to continue with weekly unemployment insurance for Americans and to prevent the government from shutting down.
Republicans have so far shown no support for Trump’s demands for higher payout to Americans. On Thursday, both sides blocked attempts by each other in the House of Representatives to modify the joint $2.3 trillion bill.
Pelosi, who has thrown her support behind Trump on the matter in a rare show of unity, said Democrats had repeatedly fought for bigger checks for American people financially hurt by the pandemic, that Republicans had continuously rejected.
"They said that they would not go above $600 and now, with this act of callousness on the Floor," she said, referring to Republican actions on Thursday. "On Monday, I will bring the House back to session where we will hold a recorded vote on our stand-alone bill to increase economic impact payments to $2,000. To vote against this bill is to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny them the relief they need."
She urged Trump to sign the allocation to keep the government open while attempts to press again for more payments for Americans in the coming week.
