At a press conference on Friday, Donald Trump went on a long spree of naming individual pieces of assistance he wanted added to the next stimulus package and following each of them with “Democrats are holding this up.”
The problem with that is that everything he listed was either on the Democrats’ wish list in the HEROES Act passed back in March, which has sat ever since on Mitch McConnell’s desk waiting to be voted on in the Senate, or something Democrats feel Republicans are leaving out.
Trump said that he directed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to prepare direct payments, $3400 for a family of four, to be sent out to the American people. Trump claimed that “Democrats are holding this up.”
In truth, Democrats are refusing to back down on sending higher payments to individuals and families, believing firmly that a one-time payment of $1200 per adult and $500 per child is not enough.
According to The Washington Post:
‘House Democrats’ package also calls for another round of $1,200 stimulus payments. Democrats’ legislation would make the benefit bigger by providing families with an additional $1,200 for each child for up to three children, whereas the initial bill approved in March gave families only $500 per child.’
Democrats want another round of direct stimulus payments to Americans up to $1,200 as coronavirus cases rise in dozens of states. President Trump isn’t ruling it out.
But Senate Republicans are on the fence or opposed, complicating its prospects. https://t.co/MKciGRL7tS— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 4, 2020
After months of saying that more money should not be sent to individual states and that Democrats saying that it should was just a way to bail out blue states with bad economies, Trump said he was ready to send money to state and local governments for schools, police officers, firefighters, and personal protective equipment. He said that “Democrats are holding this up.”
According to The Washington Post:
‘the GOP opted against including new funding for state and local governments and hazard pay for essential front-line workers, among other policies pushed by congressional Democrats.’
https://twitter.com/DanielPFlatley/status/1294281977781268480
Trump decried the lack of housing assistance being sent out during the pandemic, saying “I’m ready to send rental assistance to all hard-working Americans who have been hurt by the virus. Democrats are holding this up.”
In truth, Democrats included funding for housing in the HEROES Act. The HEALS Act allots $0 to housing assistance. CNET.com notes that the HEROES Act:
‘Expands to cover nearly all rental properties in the US, extends eviction moratorium an additional 12 months, allocates $200 billion for housing programs and another $100 billion for rental assistance.’
https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1293990527034155011
For Trump’s full press conference, see video below:
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
