President Donald Trump has signed a $2.3T spending package that would allocate $900B in funds for COVID-19 pandemic relief efforts and $1.4T to support government operations through the end of September, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The president’s move Sunday night prevented a government shutdown that was scheduled to start Tuesday and came nearly a week after Congress passed the spending package.
Trump requested a congressional vote to raise the stimulus payments from $600 to $2K in signing the measure.
CNN reported the president vetoed the $740B National Defense Authorization Act over his opposition to a provision – Section 230 – that protects internet companies from liability over content posted online.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and his Senate counterpart Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., urged their colleagues in Congress to override the veto.
The lower chamber is scheduled to reconvene Monday and expected to tackle Trump's concerns over the defense bill.
The relief bill also extends for up to 11 weeks the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs for independent contractors, gig workers and long-term unemployed individuals, according to CNN.
