The new relief bill would extend through mid-March programs that support self-employed workers and those unemployed for more than half a year. It also gives an additional $300 a week through mid-March to all those receiving jobless benefits, some 20.3 million people. And it extends through January a moratorium on evictions due to expire on Dec. 31 and provides $25 billion in emergency rental assistance.
Negotiated by Trump’s own Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and the Republican Party’s congressional leaders, the bill has been flown to the president’s Florida beach resort where he is staying for the holiday, awaiting his possible signature. In tweets on Saturday, Trump signaled he was still unwilling to sign the bill, despite pleas from lawmakers to show goodwill at Christmas time.
“I simply want to get our great people $2000, rather than the measly $600,” he tweeted Saturday, referring to the bill’s stimulus checks, while he also continued to rail about the November election as he made baseless claims about election fraud.
Source: U.S. jobless benefit cut-off pushes millions to financial cliff-edge | Reuters
