Trump Repeats Demand To Raise the Next Stimulus Checks To $2,000

President Donald Trump has reiterated his demand to increase the stimulus checks to $2,000 in the new COVID-19 relief bill.

Trump tweeted his demand hours after Christmas Day. According to a Fox News report, the president said he already made many calls and had meetings at the Trump International in Palm Beach, Florida.

"Why would politicians not want to give people $2000, rather than only $600? It wasn't their fault, it was China. Give our people the money!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Trump and other critics of the bill described the over 5,000 pages of legislation approved by Congress earlier this week as simply a pork-barrel spending rather than an honest attempt to relieve the struggling Americans of their financial struggles brought by the pandemic and overall drop in commerce.

Trump earlier noted that it is called the COVID relief bill but almost has nothing to do with COVID-19.

Opposition to The Legislation

Libertarians and progressives have also found points in opposing the legislation. Progressive representatives have also called for an amendment in the measure that hands out the $2,000 payments.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a member of the progressive representatives called "The Squad," appeared to laud Trump for supporting what the Progressives have been fighting for.

Pressley, a Democrat of Massachusetts, tweeted: "Honestly, whatever gets my constituents survival checks. People's lives are at stake."

Meanwhile, retiring GOP Rep. Peter King of New York noted that the Trump administration specifically requested the items rejected in the bill.

"Additionally it was totally deceptive for the president to say that Congress failed to provide assistance to restaurants," King said in a report.

"The truth is that [Queens Democratic] Congresswoman Grace Meng and I co-sponsored legislation to give direct grants to restaurants but the Trump Administration adamantly refused to assist restaurants," he added.

Measure on Trump's Hands

The $2.3 trillion government funding and COVID-19 relief bill has arrived at Trump's resort in Florida. This was according to a source familiar with the matter, as reported by The Hill.

The legislation has reportedly already arrived at Mar-a-Lago, where the president has chosen to spend the rest of the holidays.

The legislation is still in an uncertain position after Trump has demanded lawmakers to increase the stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.

Trump has not directly said that he would turn down the measure. However, he also said that he would not sign it after he spilled out his demand.

Many Republicans are encouraging the president to sign the relief package to prevent a government shutdown and stop the expiration of unemployment benefits. This includes Rep. Roy Blunt, who said that the best way out of this is for Trump to sign the bill.

Unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire on Saturday if they are not renewed. A government shutdown would start on Tuesday without action by the president or the passage of a new bill by Congress.

Meanwhile, the White House has yet to respond on whether Trump plans to sign the stimulus bill or veto it.