House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats of “selective consultation” Wednesday night – after President Trump called on Congress to raise coronavirus stimulation controls from $ 600 to $ 2,000.
“They have easily ignored @realDonaldTrump’s call to reconsider tax dollars wasted abroad while so many Americans are struggling at home,” McCarthy wrote in a Twitter message. “Republicans will act to put America first.”
In an accompanying letter to his fellow Republicans, McCarthy claimed that Republicans had tried to pass a stimulus bill more than 40 times but had failed until this week because Pelosi “tried to use the American people as leverage to make coronavirus assistance conditional on state funding.” which includes billions of foreign aid [dollars] at a time when there is an urgent need at home. “
The minority leader wrote that Republicans should follow Trump’s leadership and “reconsider how our tax dollars are being spent abroad” amid a pandemic that has devastated the United States for nearly a year.
PELOSI PRESSES MCCARTHY TO ACCEPT GREATER STIMULUS CONTROL AFTER TRUMP INTERVENTION
“Our government’s highest priority must be our families, communities and small businesses as we get through this pandemic and restore our country,” McCarthy wrote.
In a video released Tuesday night, Trump had blown up the foreign aid items in the bill passed by Congress that included “$ 85.5 million for aid to Cambodia, $ 134 million for Burma” and millions more for other countries as well as domestic funding , which he described as “waste and unnecessary items.”
“It’s called the Covid relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with Covid,” the president said.
Trump called on Congress to revise the bill and insisted that lawmakers downsize other spending so they could send $ 2,000 stimulus checks to Americans instead of the $ 600 checks required in the bill.
Democrats including Pelosi, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders quickly seized Trump’s support for the $ 2,000 control – and the idea they had supported. Pelosi on Wednesday urged the president to urge McCarthy to let House Republicans join the Democrats in approving the higher check amount with “unanimous consent” in a vote Thursday morning.
In his letter late Wednesday, McCarthy fired back at Pelosi, saying Republicans would offer a unanimous request for consent – but instead it would have to do with rejecting the spending on foreign aid that Congress had approved.
“It will be up to Pelosi to decide whether to act on behalf of the American people,” McCarthy wrote.
On Wednesday, Pelosi had criticized President Trump for not expressing his concerns earlier in the process as lawmakers negotiated the stimulus package they sent to his desk.
“Just when you think you’ve seen it all,” the president said last night that he might veto the two-chamber agreement negotiated between Republicans and Democrats, “Pelosi wrote to House Democrats.
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“… In the bipartisan negotiations, leader Schumer and I repeatedly asked the Republicans what would be the highest number the president would accept for direct payments, and they responded with sphinx-like silence. In the negotiations, they would never go above $ 600. and in some cases suggested $ 500. “
After raising his concerns Tuesday, the president traveled to Florida on Wednesday – leaving it to Congress to decide whether to change the package, which the president apparently did not intend to sign into law.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this story.