The text of the 5,593-page bill was made available hours before the votes in the House and Senate. Representatives and senators were told the bill had to pass immediately or else government would shut down around Christmas. This does not excuse voting for the bill. Congress should have refused to vote for this bill until members had time to read it.
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President Trump Vetoes Coronavirus Bill
00:04:45
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| Hello, this is Ron Paul with your weekly report. | |
| Last week, Congress passed a massive coronavirus relief and on-the-bus spending bill. | |
| President Trump threatened to veto the bill, saying he wants to increase in the amount for the stimulus checks authorized by the bill from $600 to $2,000. | |
| The checks are designed to help those harmed by the lockdown. | |
| President Trump also demanded a cut in some of the wasteful spending contained in the bill, such as the $10 million for gender programs in Pakistan. | |
| At the 11th hour, however, President Trump signed the bill. | |
| President Trump's veto threat came after many people complained that a $600 one-time payment was insufficient and that the payment could be higher if Congress cut spending on militarism, foreign aid, and corporate handouts. | |
| The text of the 5,593-page bill was made available hours before the votes in the House and Senate. | |
| Representatives and senators were told the bill had to pass immediately or else government would shut down around Christmas. | |
| This does not excuse voting for the bill. | |
| Congress should have refused to vote for this bill until members had time to read it. | |
| Those who voted yes could not get away with claiming the bill needed to be passed before members could read it. | |
| While it is understandable that though the real outrage is that the rushed passage of the omnibus bills had become a yearly Christmas tradition on Capitol Hill, these spending bills are always full of outrageous special interest giveaways. | |
| This practice denies the average member of Congress a meaningful role in carrying out one of Congress's two most significant constitutional duties, funding the government. | |
| Congress long ago abandoned the other main constitutional responsibility, declaring war. | |
| Whether $600 or $2,000 of a one-time stimulus payment is hardly adequate compensation for the suffering the government lockdowns have inflicted on the American people. | |
| Stimulus checks will not reopen, close small businesses, or stop increases in domestic violence and substance abuse. | |
| A government check will not restore educational and development opportunities denied to children stuck at home struggling with a virtual education. | |
| A one-time check will not compensate workers for the health problems developed due to having to wear a mask for eight hours a day. | |
| The only just solution is to end the lockdowns and never again allow overblown fears to justify shutting down the economy. | |
| Funding the government via massive omnibus bills drafted in secret and rushed into law concentrates power in the hands of a select few. | |
| And senators and congressmen benefit. | |
| It also gives the president excessive influence over the appropriations process. | |
| This is exactly the opposite of what the framers intended when they gave Congress power over government spending. | |
| This situation is the inevitable result of a government that tries to maintain the fiction that Republican institutions are compatible with a welfare warfare leviathan. | |
| Congress will continue to indulge this delusion until the system collapses. | |
| This collapse will likely be brought on by a collapse in the dollar's value. | |
| The combination of the high-profile coronavirus bill will this year's omnibus bill spending bill has brought new attention to Congress's practice of funding the government via massive unread appropriation bills. | |
| Hopefully, the anger people are expressing, instead of just disappearing once the people receive their check, will strengthen the movement to return to free markets and limited constitutional government. | |
| Liberty is a far better option than descent into economic chaos and totalitarianism. | |