Trump Shocks Aides With His Call for $2K

President Trump has a complaint—and some of his fiercest critics are on his side this time. In video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, the POTUS called the $600 figure arrived at by Congress for round two of coronavirus stimulus money "ridiculously low," calling on lawmakers to bump it up to $2,000. The Washington Post reports Trump suggested he would not sign the legislation without changes, and Fox News reports that Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders were on board with that idea. Pelosi said "Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent," while AOC said the amendment for $2,000 checks is "ready to go" and could be passed this week "if the Senate GOP agrees to stand down." Sanders called on Trump to "get Mitch McConnell and your Republican friends to stop opposing it."

Of course, that wasn't Trump's only complaint: He also slammed the bill as a "disgrace" full of "wasteful spending," specifically calling out many line items. "It’s called the COVID relief bill but it has almost nothing to do with COVID," he said. But, as PolitiFact explains, Congress actually passed a spending package: the $900 billion relief bill, plus a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill, which is where the funding for things like the arts and money for other countries comes in. Even so, others on the right were also none too happy: Trump "is right," tweeted Sen. Josh Hawley. "[W]orkers deserve much more than $600, as I have repeatedly said & fought for. And there’s obviously plenty of $$ to do it - look at what Congress threw away on corporate giveaways & foreign buyouts." The Post says congressional aides, as well as Trump's own aides, were "stunned" at Trump's video, which sent stock market futures down, particularly since they've been telling the media he would sign the bill. (More President Trump stories.)