Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to President Trump’s threat to veto a spending bill by agreeing with his call for $2,000 stimulus checks and offering to pass a measure this week in the House.
“Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks,” Pelosi tweeted Tuesday night. “At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it!”
Trump moments earlier appeared in the White House to announce he won’t sign a massive coronavirus aid and fiscal 2021 spending package. Trump complained the bill did not include significant money for new stimulus checks and was chock-full of waste.
The measure now provides $600 checks for individuals and $1,200 for couples.
Republicans are expected to block any increase. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told fellow Republicans Wednesday Pelosi’s attempt to boost stimulus payments to $2,000 would fail. Since Pelosi has called for unanimous consent, it would take only one Republican vote to block the measure on the House floor.
Meanwhile, Trump vetoed a critical defense spending and policy bill Wednesday, fulfilling a pledge made weeks ago to block the measure and setting up a post-Christmas battle with Congress now complicated by his opposition to a massive spending and coronavirus aid package. Trump wants the $740.5 billion National Defense Authorization Act to include language that would remove Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides a lawsuit shield protecting social media giants, including Twitter and Facebook, which the president and conservatives accuse of unfair censorship.
It was the last action Trump took before heading to Florida for Christmas.
Meanwhile, over 1 million people in the United States have received a dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, 1,008,025 people had been vaccinated by Wednesday. Over 9.4 million doses have been distributed.
To date, there have been 325,097 confirmed deaths in the U.S. related to COVID-19 and 18.3 million confirmed cases.
The United Kingdom’s health secretary confirmed Wednesday that yet another “highly concerning” variant of the coronavirus has been identified in the country, likely originating from South Africa.
As a result, Secretary Matt Hancock said that the government will implement new travel restrictions on those attempting to enter the country from South Africa and urged those who had been to South Africa within the last two weeks to self-quarantine for two weeks, according to the Independent.
The news is another development in an already troubling week for the British Isles. The U.K. announced a new strain of its own in the southeastern part of England that could be up to 70% more transmissible than the current dominant strain, and more than 40 countries, including the entire European Union, unleashed travel bans on the U.K. France even blocked freight and cargo from crossing the English Channel, leading to trucks being backed up for miles along England’s M20 highway.
The U.K. may also approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine shortly after Christmas.
John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford University, told the BBC that Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency would approve the vaccine “pretty shortly.”
“I doubt we’ll make Christmas now, but just after Christmas, I would expect,” Bell said.
On Wednesday, Canada became the second country to approve the Moderna coronavirus vaccine. Canada will receive 168,000 doses of the vaccine by the end of December. The U.S. was the first country to approve the Moderna vaccine on Friday.
Pfizer and BioNTech, the companies that produced the first coronavirus vaccine to get emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, will supply the U.S. with an additional 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine.
The companies announced the deal Wednesday and said they expect to deliver all the doses by July 31. Pfizer already agreed to supply the U.S. government with 100 million doses of its vaccine, meaning it will produce 200 million shots. The new total will be enough to vaccinate 100 million people since each vaccine requires two doses.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has tested positive for COVID-19 after undergoing a routine test.
The governor is experiencing mild symptoms, including a cough and slight fatigue, his office said Tuesday. McMaster will continue to work from the governor’s residence in isolation for the next 10 days.
South Carolina’s first lady, Peggy McMaster, also is in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, but she has not experienced any symptoms, the governor’s office said.
A California doctor was fired after he questioned the effectiveness of coronavirus lockdowns in his state. Dr. Michael Deboisblanc was fired from his position as trauma medical director for John Muir Health after he sent a letter to Contra Costa County health officials saying officials should end a stay-at-home order back in May.
“Personally, I think it’s time,” he said this spring of ending lockdowns. “I think, originally, this was put in place to flatten the curve and to make sure hospitals have the resources to take care of COVID patients. We have the current resources to do that, and our other community health is suffering.”
