7 things to know about the newly signed stimulus package

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Monday, December 28, 2020

President Donald J. Trump applauds the crowd and gestures with a fist pump as he disembarks Air Force One Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, upon his arrival to Reading Regional Airport in Reading, Pa., the second of President Trump’s 4 stops in Pennsylvania. | White House/Shealah Craighead)

Days after calling a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package and a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill a “disgrace,” and threatening not to sign it unless changes were made, President Donald Trump signed it into law Sunday.

The president, who relented on his opposition to signing the bill after he was lobbied to do so by allies, said in a statement that he would insist on reductions in the spending portions of it.

“I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill,” he said.

“I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more,” he added.

Trump had called for increasing “ridiculously low” $600 stimulus checks to $2,000.

Here are seven things to know about what’s in the COVID-19 relief bill.