AMNA NAWAZ: The showdown is over.
In a surprise move late Sunday night, President Trump signed the COVID relief and government
funding bill, after days of delay, and demanding last-minute changes.
William Brangham begins our coverage.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The House will be in order.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lawmakers returned to Washington today, after a high-stakes stand-off with
President Trump over coronavirus relief and government funding.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: It really is a disgrace.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For days, the president refused to sign the $2.3 trillion bill to
provide $900 billion in coronavirus relief and to fund the federal government through
the rest of fiscal year 2021.
But then, last night, he suddenly reversed course. In a statement, the president said
he had signed the bill, but was demanding many rescissions to claw back what he said
was wasteful spending.
That's even though his own administration had helped negotiate the legislation. Still,
his demands for cutbacks are unlikely to go anywhere.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said she and other
Democrats will reject any rescissions submitted by President Trump.
The president's statement also called for Congress to increase the bill's $600 checks
for Americans earning up to $75,000 a year to $2,000.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Republicans have a choice: Vote for this legislation or vote to deny
the American people the bigger paychecks they need.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That gave Democrats in the House of Representatives the opportunity to
vote today on an attempt to push through those $2,000 checks, forcing Republicans to either
approve the spending or break with the president.
REP. KEVIN BRADY (R-TX): I worry that this whopping $463 billion won't do what's needed.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But that measure is unlikely to pass the Senate, with Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell and other Republicans opposed to such relief spending.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Senate Democrats are fighting for $2,000 per person.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today in New York, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for President
Trump to lean on Senate Republicans to get those bigger checks passed.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: Today, I am telling Donald Trump, don't just talk about it. Act. These
Senate Republicans have followed you through thick and thin. Get them now to act and support
the $2,000 checks.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: President-elect Joe Biden today said he also supports the $2,000 checks.
President Trump's decision to sign the bill did avert the government shutdown that was
set to begin tonight, but his delay of several days likely cost millions of Americans a week
of the additional $300 in federal unemployment assistance and delayed the $600 direct payments.
CHANDA MCCOY, Ohio: I'm kind of relieved right now that he signed the bill, but still kind
of worried a little bit, because what's going to happen in the near future with us?
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Chanda McCoy was laid off from her job at the Dayton Airport in Ohio
at the beginning of the pandemic. She says the bill's unemployment benefits can only
stretch so far.
CHANDA MCCOY: I pay rent, utilities. I have to pay car insurance, a car payment. I have
grandkids. And these are young parents that still need some help. I can't help my grandkids
as much.
ANGELA RETAMOZA, California: I lost my job in 2008 when the economy crashed. And I did
end up being homeless for a while.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Angela Retamoza was laid off from her job as an accounting assistant
in March. She says she tried to save what little she could from the last round of COVID
relief, knowing it could expire at the end of the year.
ANGELA RETAMOZA: I'm at least able to know that I have enough money to pay rent next
month. But, after that, I just -- I don't know.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That uncertainty is a reality for millions of Americans, still waiting for
relief amid this pandemic.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.
AMNA NAWAZ: And just this evening, the House voted to increase stimulus payments from $600
to $2,000. Forty-four Republicans joined the Democratic majority in voting for that increase.
For more on this vote and President Trump's decision to sign the bill and what comes next,
Anna Palmer joins us now. She's senior Washington correspondent for Politico.
Anna, welcome back to the "NewsHour." And thanks for being here.
Let's start with President Trump's decision to sign that relief bill. What do we know
about what took him so long, and why he finally changed his mind?
ANNA PALMER, Politico: I mean, this was really a crisis of the president's own making.
The bill was on its way to being signed. It had been negotiated by the White House and
both houses of Congress. At the last minute, he decided to throw this wrench in it. And,
for days, everybody was in limbo, certainly, the people that were expecting and needing
those checks, but also the fact that it was tied to government funding, which would have
really shut down the government.
And there was not a real endgame there. We know that several members of Congress, Senate
Republicans, like Lindsey Graham, went to him, spoke with him, made the case that he
needed to support this COVID relief bill, that Georgia, which is obviously in play with
the two run-offs, would be locked by Republicans if he shut down the government and they did
not get the relief that was needed for Americans before the end of the year.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, as William Brangham just reported in a statement last night, after signing the
bill, President Trump said he wants less wasteful spending from Congress. He's demanding these
rescissions, sending to Congress a red-line bill, basically itemizing all the funds that
he wants removed.
Is the president going to get any of that? What is the practical impact of those requests?
ANNA PALMER: This gives the president a way to say that he had a win in terms of what
he wants to actually have happen with funding. This is not a reality.
The -- both houses have moved on from this spending bill. The House appropriators, which
are really the power of the purse, has said they will not be considering any of the rescissions
that the president will, would or could give to them before he leaves office.
But this is really more of a talking point for the president. It has no basis in reality.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, we see now the House supports that suggestion to raise the stimulus payments
to $2,000. Democrats have always been asking for more money.
But this puts Republicans in a pinch, particularly in the Senate. So what's going to happen there?
Are they going to back that increase in stimulus payments?
ANNA PALMER: Yes, House Democrats just eked out a two-thirds majority, which they needed
in order for this bill to move forward into the Senate.
The real question is going to be what, if any pressure does President Trump put on his
allies in the Senate to actually take this up? There was already some strong rejections
of it in previous smaller amounts. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a key ally of the
president's, opposed a $1,200 check bill before this.
So it's hard to see where he would be mounting up the support, and, in particular, because
he isn't making those calls. To our knowledge, he has not been on the phone trying to press
the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, to actually take this vote up.
So, unless he does that, it appears that this will just move past the -- pass in the House,
but it will die in the Senate.
AMNA NAWAZ: Anna Palmer, senior Washington correspondent with Politico, always good to
talk to you.