Trump gives America chaos for Christmas

MILLIONS OF Americans have acquitted themselves admirably during 2020, rising to the 12-month national challenge caused by a deadly coronavirus pandemic that remains to be resolved. Even Congress outperformed many expectations, passing two bipartisan pandemic relief measures: the $2.2 trillion Cares Act in March and a $908 billion follow-up measure Monday night.

Yet instead of rewarding this good behavior, President Trump has given the United States chaos for Christmas. Denouncing the bill, and then decamping from Washington for his Florida home with scant time left on Congress’s legislative calendar, he has gratuitously created the possibility of a veto that could not be overridden. Potential consequences include a government shutdown and — just as unthinkable — failure to deliver crucial support for the unemployed, small businesses and public health.

Mr. Trump demands direct payments of up to $8,000 for families of four earning as much as $150,000, which is far more than the $600-per-person his own negotiators agreed to and which would cost an additional $370 billion. The president’s last-minute dealbreaking was too much even for the usually Trump-compliant House Republicans. They quite rightly shot down House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) attempt to pass the extra money by unanimous consent Thursday. We can hardly fault Ms. Pelosi for taking a free shot at the GOP after Mr. Trump embraced the politically popular idea of free money for voters, but the cause ofbigger “stimulus checks” is not remotely worth blowing up Congress’s overall compromise. Sending billions of federally borrowed dollars to families earning twice the median income is the opposite of progressive and would not even stimulate the economy very much, since experience shows higher earners are likely to save the money, not spend it.

For the House GOP to stop it was not, therefore, “cruel,” as Ms. Pelosi said. We similarly can hardly fault Republicans their face-saving, but inevitably failed, attempt to get unanimous Democratic consent for a bad policy of their own: revisiting what Mr. Trump claims is excessive foreign aid in the covid bill’s companion appropriations package. This money was the president’s second ostensible objection to Congress’s bargain, though much of it was either called for in the president’s own fiscal 2021 budget or backed by his allies on Capitol Hill. Depending on what happens in the next few days, House Democrats could stage a roll-call vote on the direct payments Monday, forcing the Senate to deal with the issue. That is also the day government funding runs out, meaning there might be a shutdown unless Congress and Mr. Trump prevent it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-gives-america-chaos-for-christmas/2020/12/24/6de2002a-4616-11eb-a277-49a6d1f9dff1_story.html