Slamming 74-year-old President Donald Trump for not signing the $900 billion bipartisan stimulus bill giving direct payments of $600 dollars, 78-year-old President-elect Joe Biden warned about “devastating” consequences, especially to the 12 million citizens collecting unemployment benefits due to expire today. Trump asked Congress to revise the bill to offer individuals $2,000 or couples $4,000, all sounding good, but an hour-late-and-a-dollar-short, now that so much rides on the current bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 80, said she would introduce stand-alone legislation to increase the direct payment to $2,000, something not expected to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate. Trump finds himself stuck in lame-duck hell, no longer influencing what happens on Capitol Hill or anywhere else. With only four weeks left in his term, Trump has become irrelevant in Washington.
About the only thing the media writes or talks about now involves Trump ongoing pardons and commutations, waiting to see whether he has the guts to pardon former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, stuck in a Moscow suburb, hoping to come back to the states. When it comes to the stimulus bill, Trump had little say on the negotiations, even though his point-man 56-year-old Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuuchin worked with House and Senate Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wanted to offer nothing when it came to direct payments to citizens. Getting the $600 concession was a big deal no matter how paltry the amount, as expressed by Trump. But Trump has realized, more than ever, he’s out-of-the-loop when it comes to making things happen on Capitol Hill. It’s now up to Pelosi and McConnell to tie up the loose ends.
Listening or watching the anti-Trump media blast him for playing gold while the rest of the country suffers from the economic fallout from Covid-19 shows how the press won’t stop until Trump’s last day. When it comes to the stimulus bill, there’s nothing left for Trump to do other than sign it, let go of influencing what happens. “This abdication of or responsibility has devastating consequences,” Biden said, actually meaning “abrogation,” but it’s close enough for government work. Biden wants to see the continuation of at least 50% of enhanced unemployment benefits, something about $300 extra a week. Without Trump signing the bill, small businesses won’t get the federal aid needed and the federal moratorium on evictions will end Dec. 31. Whether Trump likes it or not, there’s no point for him throwing a monkey- wrench into the system, preventing at least some stimulus relief.
Trump objected to pork in the bill involving a bunch of useless pet research projects and billions going to foreign aid, especially to Latin America. But whatever the misgivings about the bill, it’s the best that the two sides could come up with given all the rancorous circumstances on Capitol Hill. Trump continues to fight for what he thinks was a rigged election, something he couldn’t prove in any court. Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton commissioned Chapman University constitutional law professor John Eastman to write the brief asking for injunctive relief in the Supreme Court. Eastman claimed in his brief that because of universal mail-in ballots it was next-to-impossible to prove election fraud. No one in the Democrat-friendly press wants to consider that Biden was illegitimately elected Nov. 3. Trump’s legal team, as Eastman said, couldn’t prove widespread election fraud.
Trump’s caught between a rock-and-a-hard-place over deciding to sign the bipartisan stimulus legislation. As Biden said, millions of Americans will have their extended unemployment compensation terminated. Trump’s time to put in his two cents on legislation or anything else, including foreign policy, has long since past. All that’s left for Trump is to call United Van Lines to begin his move to Mar-a-Lago. When Trump’s told by his own Party that the negotiations on a stimulus bill have long since ended, it’s time to get over it and sign the bill. Whatever the shortcomings, it’s better than nothing and up to Biden after he’s inaugurated to do something better. For right now, Trump can leave office knowing that he at least preserved a modicum of the safety net to unemployed Americans. What happens under Biden’s watch should be of no consequence to Trump.
Biden promised that whatever the first stimulus bill does, or doesn’t do, he’ll work with Congress after Jan. 20, 2020 to add more stimulus as needed. No one knows when the Covid-19 crisis will start abating, even with the roll out of vaccines. Trump deserves much of the credit for pushing drug companies to come up with vaccines in record time. Biden and his 56-year-old running mate Vice President-elect Kamala Harris told U.S. voters not to trust any vaccine developed under Trump’s watch. Now that inauguration approaches, they’re both fully behind Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines. Calling the stimulus bill “critical,” Biden said it’s a “first step and down payments on more action that we’ll need to take,” hinting at more stimulus after the Jan. 20, 2021 inauguration. For now, Trump needs to bury the hatchet, move on and sign the bipartisan stimulus bill.
