Trump's alternative reality.
Ohio Republican knocks Trump criticism of spending bill: 'Items he complained about' are a 'lie' or 'in HIS budget'
Rep.
Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) rebuked President
Trump over his criticism of a $2.3 trillion package to provide coronavirus relief and fund the government.
Gonzalez said Trump was misleading the public when he criticized the bill earlier this week, suggesting it was funding too many overseas projects and that it did not provide large enough stimulus checks to American families.
“If @realDonaldTrump didn't want money going to foreign countries, he shouldn't have asked for it. 100% of the items he complained about last night were either a lie (i.e. illegals aren't getting $1800) or things in HIS budget (all the foreign aid),” the Ohio Republican tweeted.
“Finally, people are conflating 2 things. The covid deal had none of the pork that is being discussed. It was, however, combined with the omnibus. The omni had tons of pork. Again, though, this was Trump's pork,” he added.
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) rebuked President Trump over his criticism of a $2.3 trillion package to provide coronavirus relief and fund the government.Gonzalez said Trump was misleading the pub…
thehill.com
Republicans scramble to prevent year-end legislative disaster
Washington was blindsided Tuesday evening by Trump’s lengthy criticism of the $900 billion COVID-19 relief measure and $1.4 trillion omnibus that needs to be signed in the coming days to avoid a government shutdown.
Now, Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s most loyal Senate allies, and House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are trying to salvage the $2.3 trillion package, GOP sources said.
Graham is pushing for a vote on $2,000 stimulus checks, instead of the $600 direct payments in the bipartisan bill, and a sunset of Section 230 in the Communications Decency Act that shields social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter from lawsuits for content posted on their sites. Trump on Wednesday
vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act for, among other things, not including a repeal of Section 230.
But such a package — boosting the size of the stimulus checks and exposing social media platforms to liability over content — would face bipartisan opposition, as many Republicans are worried about the soaring deficit and many Democrats don’t want to take a punitive shot at tech firms.
McCarthy told colleagues that Trump hasn’t made up his mind about whether to veto the massive COVID-19 relief and omnibus package, which he could hold at his desk until after the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3. If Trump doesn’t take action on the legislation during the 10 days that he’s allotted by the Constitution, excluding Sundays, it would result in a pocket veto and Congress could not vote to override it.
Instead, lawmakers in the new Congress would have to begin negotiating another package, something leaders want to avoid since it took more than seven months to strike a deal on the bill passed earlier this week.
Trump’s opposition to the bill caught lawmakers in both chambers by surprise, in large part because Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff
Mark Meadows helped negotiate the package.
The $600 stimulus checks, which Trump now complains are too small, were first floated to Democratic leaders by Mnuchin in a Dec. 8 phone call.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told his GOP colleagues in a Wednesday call that he felt “Trump threw us under the bus.”
“The president was updated on this bill every step of the way by the GOP leadership. The COVID supplemental is a good compromise and the president should take it,” Bacon said in a public statement after the call, standing by his comments.
Republican leaders in both chambers are scrambling to get a bipartisan coronavirus relief and government funding package across the finish line and avert a year-end disaster after President Trump u…
thehill.com
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