On Sunday, President Trump signed the $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief package passed by Congress that includes $600 stimulus checks for Americans. The president had threatened to veto the package if Congress did not increase the payments to $2,000.
In signing the relief package, the president made it clear that he was signing the bill to provide assistance to the American people. The president said he was sending a redlined version of the 5,600-page bill back to Congress asking them to remove wasteful and embarrassing pork spending contained in the legislation.
"I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed," the president said in a statement. "I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill."
"I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more," the president continued.
The president touted a House bill that would increase direct payments to Americans from $600 to $2000. He called on Congress to remove Section 230 protections for Big Tech companies and address voter fraud.
As the bill sits now, people earning up to $75,000 per year are authorized to receive direct payments of $600. The amount decreases for higher wage earners and zeros out for those earning over $95,000 per year. There is an additional $600 stimulus payment per child. The relief package also contains a new $300 weekly supplement for unemployment assistance and replenishes the forgivable loan program for small businesses.