US House passes bill for $2,000 Covid-19 aid checks sought by Trump
The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives voted 275-134 to meet President Donald Trump’s demand for $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks on Monday, sending the measure on to an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled Senate.
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Trump last week threatened to block a massive pandemic aid and spending package if Congress did not boost stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 and cut other spending. He backed down from his demands on Sunday as a possible government shutdown brought on by the fight with lawmakers loomed.
But Democratic lawmakers have long wanted $2,000 relief checks and used the rare point of agreement with Trump to advance the proposal – or at least put Republicans on record against it – in the vote on Monday.
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One hundred thirty Republicans, two independents and two Democrats opposed the increase on Monday.
Trump finally signed the $2.3 trillion package into law, while still demanding $2,000 checks.
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It includes $1.4 trillion in spending to fund government agencies and $892 billion in COVID relief.
It is not clear how the measure to increase aid checks will fare in the Senate, where individual Republican lawmakers have said the higher amount would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the latest relief bill.
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The Senate is due to convene on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday made no mention of Senate plans for a vote, after welcoming Trump’s signing of the relief bill.
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The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly 330,000 people in the United States and led to widespread economic hardship, with millions of families relying on unemployment benefits and COVID relief funds.
A swan mourning the death of its companion on a German railway track held up 23 trains for almost an hour and had to be removed by firefighters using special equipment, police said.
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The two birds had strayed onto the track area of the high-speed line between Kassel and Gottingen in central Germany “during an excursion”, according to Kassel police.
One of the birds died, likely after getting caught in the overhead power cables, said the statement on the December 23 incident, which was made public Monday.
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Its companion then sat beside the body in mourning, resisting attempts by officials to lure it away and temporarily closing the line to traffic.
Firefighters with special equipment were later called in and managed to lift the dead swan and its surviving companion away from the area.
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Twenty-three trains were delayed for about 50 minutes while the rescue operation took place, the police statement said.
The surviving swan was unharmed and later released onto the river Fulda, it added.
According to Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, swans try to find a mate for life.
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President Donald Trump is urging supporters to amass in Washington on January 6 for a last-ditch rally to pressure Congress to not certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
Thousands of supporters from around the country, from the Women for America First group, to StoptheSteal, to the violent Proud Boys, are expected to descend on the US capital pressing Trump’s unsupported claim that massive voter fraud was behind his defeat in the November 3 election.
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Trump tweeted twice this weekend urging supporters to attend, labelling the election “the biggest SCAM in our nation’s history.”
“See you in Washington, DC, on January 6th. Don’t miss it,” he wrote Sunday.
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The rally raised fears of fresh violence after the previous pro-Trump protest that included the Proud Boys on December 12 saw several people stabbed and dozens arrested.
Trump appears to hope that the protestors could pressure Congress to reject the final count of state-based electors and reverse his election loss.
“We the People must take to the US Capitol lawn and steps and tell Congress #DoNotCertify,” StopTheSteal declared online.
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“Congress cannot certify this fraudulent Electoral College,” they said.
On January 6 Vice President Mike Pence is to lead Congress in certifying the Electoral College votes submitted by each state, which represent the results of the popular vote.
In the joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate, Pence is to open and read the certificates reporting elector tallies from each state, and then declare the victor.
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That process should be, as it almost always is, a formality.
Democrat Biden captured 306 electors while Republican Trump only won 232.
Trump’s campaign has lost dozens of court challenges in several contested states, with judge after judge saying they showed no evidence of any significant fraud.
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But the session can be stalled if lawmakers from both houses submit formal objections to any state’s report.
Alabama Representative Mo Brooks told Fox News on Monday that he has the support of “dozens” of lawmakers to formally challenge the counts.
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Meanwhile Trump and supporters have pressured Pence to unilaterally reject some pro-Biden states’ elector certificates, a power legal experts say Pence does not have.
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Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger on Sunday said it was all an effort by “certain members of Congress and the president” to raise money.
“It is a scam and it is going to disappoint the people that believe this election was stolen,” he told CNN.
