Last night, GOP leadership called Donald Trump and demanded that he sign Nancy Pelosi's "stimulus bill" as-is. They warned Trump that if he didn't sign the bill, unemployment benefits for millions of Americans would expire at midnight. Like Pelosi, the GOPers tried to use the pain and suffering of American families as leverage to force Trump to sign a bill loaded to the brim with pork spending.
The President kindly refused. He refused to sign the bill and told the GOP that if they wanted him to sign a bill, they had to do two things: (1) cut out the ridiculous foreign aid spending to foreign countries and (2) increase the relief funding given to Americans and American small businesses.
That shouldn't be controversial. Frankly, the United States should just re-open. Instead of paying people to sit at home, we should be re-opening our economy to empower them to earn a living themselves. Congress, however, isn't willing to do that. So, with so many families suffering under Democrat-imposed lockdowns, I can understand the need to get stimulus funds into Americans' hands as fast as possible.
But the Pelosi-McConnell bill doesn't do that. Instead of focusing on helping Americans, the legislation devotes most of its pages to helping foreign countries. Democrats and Republicans agreed to give Americans a measly 600 check while offering foreign countries tens of billions in foreign aid...
Trump refused to sign it unless the foreign aid is removed and Americans are given enough to provide for their families. It is a fair demand.
Nancy Pelosi responded by amending the bill to increase the stimulus checks to 2,000 per American... but she left everything else the same. She refused to cut even a cent from the foreign aid sections of the bill. No surprise, that bill failed to pass.
The solution is really simple. If Americans are hurting, then provide enough relief to help them. Don't bail out foreign countries and businesses... support the United States of America instead!
But no surprise, the GOP is refusing to budge. Not only are they refusing to increase the stimulus checks for Americans, but they are refusing to cut the foreign aid. Now, McConnell is working with Nancy Pelosi to whip up enough votes for a veto override!
When Donald Trump vetoes the bill, Congress will then be able to override the veto. Since this stimulus bill originated in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi will get the first crack at overriding Trump's veto. There are 435 voting members of the House. In order to reach the two-thirds threshold to override the veto, they need 290 to vote for it. To put it in perspective, when the bill originally passed the House, it passed by a margin of 359 to 53.
However, there were 153 Republican Congressmen who voted for the bill. It is one thing to vote for a piece of legislation. It is an entirely different matter to vote to override a veto from a President of the same party. Pelosi believes she will have the votes, but it will be much closer than 359-53...
If the House overrides the veto, it will then go to the Senate. At least 67 Senators will need to vote for it in order for Trump's veto to be overridden. The first time it passed the Senate, the vote was 92-6.
Senators Blackburn (TN), Johnson (WI), Paul (KY), Cruz (TX), Scott (FL), and Lee (UT) were the only six Republicans to vote against it. Enzi (WY) and Rounds (SD) did not vote. Every other Republican voted to give Americans peanuts while we send tens of billions overseas to help foreign countries instead.
Again, McConnell believes he will have the votes to override a Trump veto, but it will be a lot closer than that. Even the GOP understands that overriding a Trump veto in order to put foreign countries ahead of Americans is bad optics...
Both Pelosi and McConnell have set TOMORROW as the day to begin the process of overriding Trump's vetoes. You must stop them!
We can still stop this. The first time around, the House and Senate voted on this legislation without even reading it. They also rushed it through in the hopes of passing it before the American public knew what was in it.
But now, they can't claim ignorance. Democrats and Republicans alike know that this bill treats foreigners like kings and gives table scraps to struggling and hurting Americans. They can't vote for it and simply claim that they 'didn't know.'
The American people also know what is in the bill and overwhelmingly support President Trump's decision to veto it until foreign aid is cut and stimulus for Americans is increased.
We have a real chance to block the establishment from overriding Trump's veto. We have a real shot at finally stripping foreign aid from the spending package and ensuring that American taxdol lars go towards helping the American people.
But you have to get loud now. You have to join our FaxBlast campaign right now and threaten to remove any member of Congress - GOP or Democrat - who votes to put foreign interests ahead of Americans' needs!
Don't let them get away with this!
Max McGuire
Conservative Daily
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