What you need to know about the economic stimulus 4:19
Washington (CNN) -
By Christmas this year, Washington is causing the country more pain.
Perhaps it is fitting that in the worst year on record, the unexpected prospect of a government shutdown and delayed economic relief looms over some Christmas celebrations that the pandemic has already made less joyous.
Perhaps nothing better could be expected in a year in which denial and deception, spearheaded by President Donald Trump, herald a wave of disease and death along with evictions, bankruptcies, starvation and ruined livelihoods.
But after putting up with so much, Americans can hardly be blamed for being outraged by yet another indignity on the part of their leaders.
As Trump plays golf in Florida and pardons his corrupt loyal allies, and as Congressional leaders line up for the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine, there is little evidence that the country's urgent needs will be addressed in a timely manner.
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House of Representatives does not approve increase in subsidy checks from US $ 600 to US $ 2,000
Trump surprises with new wave of pardons and commutations 3:04
Congress and President Still Stagnant on Coronavirus Subsidies
House Republicans on Thursday rejected an attempt by Democrats to pass a bill that included direct payments of $ 2,000 to Americans - precisely the figure Trump demanded in a random video he tweeted this week rejecting a bill. bill with payments of US $ 600 that he had spent overwhelmingly with the support of his administration.
In the Republican-controlled Senate, there doesn't seem to be enough support for a bill to provide $ 2,000 subsidies.
Trump is engaged in open hostility to House Republican leaders because they have recognized the reality that he lost the election, a dispute he acknowledged on Twitter after returning to Mar-a-Lago from his golf course on Christmas Day.
"At a meeting in Florida today, everyone was wondering why Republicans are not up in arms and fighting over the fact that Democrats stole the rigged presidential election," Trump asked, using the term "meeting" with some freedom.
“Especially in the Senate, they said, where they helped 8 senators win their elections.
How quickly they forget! ».
The bill that Trump called for a change in Congress was sent to him in Florida on Thursday afternoon, but it offered no further clarity on what he would do with it.
Government funding will expire Monday unless Trump signs the package or Congress passes another stopgap measure;
four such fixes have already passed this month alone.
The fact that no one appears to know what Trump wants, if he knows himself at all, has only fueled the impression that the country is sinking further into chaos at exactly the least welcome time.
"I have no idea what he's planning to do," Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican who is generally aligned with the president, said Thursday.
Politicians are immune to pain
In the past, when the government was about to close on Christmas, presidents and legislators stayed in Washington to figure it out.
Even Trump skipped his Florida vacation two years ago when government agencies closed.
For now there is no stimulus 4:00
The country's leaders have also typically tried some form of solidarity in the trenches with their constituents when the going gets tough, as, for example, when health experts advise against vacation travel and family reunions.
But conventional practices have mostly disappeared in the four years that Trump has been president.
And no one thinks twice anymore when Trump, despite claims by the White House that his schedule is jammed with phone calls and meetings, revisits one of his golf clubs as millions of Americans go hungry at Christmas.
Having forced suffering Americans to wait months to get more economic relief from the ravages of the coronavirus, it doesn't seem like elected officials will figure out how to move forward any time soon.
"We were assured that the president would sign the bill," Blunt told reporters Thursday.
The Republican senator casually suggested that the president might not understand what the bill contains, something that falls short given the president's combination of covid stimulus and government funding packages, and his fury over the proposed spending figures. in your budget this year.
More than half a million people will die of covid-19 in the United States, according to projections
Starving
As Republicans work to figure out what Trump wants, more than 12 million laid off Americans could lose their unemployment benefits after this weekend.
The back rent is due Jan. 1 for millions of tenants, and states could lose the unspent funds of the $ 150 billion Congress awarded earlier this year to state and local governments to help cover related expenses. the coronavirus.
The move has left millions of Americans facing deep uncertainty at the end of a difficult year.
"I think people are scared," Karen Pozna, communications director for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, said on CNN.
“You know, they are scared, there have been so many people who have lost their jobs or have had to take pay cuts.
The need was great before the pandemic.
Now continue.
And I see that it will continue well into the new year.
Trump has hardly mentioned the death toll from the pandemic for weeks.
In a video he recorded with the first lady for Christmas, Trump left his wife's empathy as he declared the launch of recently licensed vaccines "a Christmas miracle," although the vast majority of Americans will not have access to vaccines for months. .
Lawmakers say they feel the warmth of their constituents to do something, the pressure that Trump doesn't seem to share.
"I did a forum last night where there were people crying, people terrified of what's going to happen," Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said Thursday after the Democratic measure failed.
"President, when we finally think we could give people hope, that's what people need, hope, and to be able to start working on this in January, people don't care, damn it," he said.
"He threw more fear, he threw kerosene into a fire of terror."
It was not just Democrats who were frustrated.
"If you think that going to Twitter and destroying the bill that your team negotiated and we support on your behalf will bring more people to your side in this electoral fiasco, I hope you are wrong, although I suppose we will see," Rep. Anthony González tweeted , Republican of Ohio, Wednesday.
Watch it all burn
In the end, Trump himself may not know what his ultimate goals are beyond putting more gas into a system that he seems to intend to see burn when he leaves office.
Trump remains furious that Republicans, including those who helped negotiate the legislation he rejected, do not support him in his attempt to overturn the election.
In Florida, Trump is often surrounded by more willing sycophants who, in the past, have encouraged his destructive impulses.
His personal attorney Rudy Giuliani flew with him to Florida aboard Air Force One on Wednesday.
CNN reported Thursday that Trump's latest obsession is the Jan.6 certification of the Electoral College recount for Joe Biden, an occasion he hopes will provide an opportunity for his supporters to question the results.
While flying to Florida for his vacation, Trump retweeted a call from one of his supporters for Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to ratify the Electoral College results.
Trump has recently told people that Pence is not doing enough to fight for him when his presidency ends, and has recently taken an interest in Pence's traditional role during certification.
As president of the Senate, Pence presides over proceedings.
Sources say Trump in recent days has raised the matter with the vice president and has been "confused" as to why Pence cannot override the results of the January 6 election.
Pence and White House advisers have tried to explain to him that his role is more of a formality and he cannot unilaterally reject electoral college votes.
It is not at all clear that the president has internalized the message.
unemployment benefits