Trump finally signs US$900b virus relief bill

After delaying for nearly a week and under pressure from all sides, United States President Donald Trump finally signed a massive US$900 billion stimulus bill on Sunday, in a long-sought boost for millions of Americans and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The package “providing coronavirus emergency response and relief” is part of a larger spending bill that, with Trump’s signature, will avoid a government shutdown today.

“I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for Paycheck Protection Programs, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more,” the president said in a statement from his Christmas vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The turnaround came after a day marked by calls from all sides of the political spectrum for action to avert an economic and social disaster, especially for America’s vulnerable populations.

Two federal unemployment benefit programs approved in March as part of an initial COVID-19 relief plan expired at midnight on Saturday, cutting off an estimated 12 million Americans, according to The Century Foundation think tank.

The relief package, which was first passed by Congress on December 21, extends those benefits as well as others set to expire in the days ahead.

But for days, Trump had refused to put his signature on it, calling the bill a “disgrace” and catching both Democrats and Republicans off guard with his complaints, which came after months of negotiations.

Influential Republican senator Mitt Romney said he was “relieved” at the signing. “Help is now on the way to workers, families, and small businesses across the country who are desperately in need,” he tweeted.

Earlier on Sunday, he had urged Trump to “immediately sign or veto the COVID-19 relief package so Congress can act before it’s too late.”

In his statement on Sunday, the president continued to push for the US$600 direct payments to US taxpayers spelled out in the bill to be more than tripled, and argued the legislation included too much excess spending on unrelated programs.

The new stimulus package extends federal aid to the unemployed until mid-March, and provides guaranteed loans and billions of dollars in aid to small businesses, restaurants, hotels, airlines and other companies.

It extends the moratorium on evictions of people unable to pay their rent, suspends foreclosures and provides funds for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The aid is essential to the world’s largest economy, hit hard by restrictions put in place to halt the spread of COVID-19.

“I applaud the Presidents decision to get billions of dollars of crucial COVID-19 relief out the door and into the hands of American families,” tweeted Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called the bill “a down payment on what is needed to crush the virus, put money in Americans’ pockets & honor our heroes.”