Friday, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) predicted if President Donald Trump takes a pass and does not sign the $2.3 trillion spending bill, which reportedly includes $1.4 trillion to keep the government open and $900 billion in so-called coronavirus relief, Congress will likely pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running.
“Well, as you pointed out, if he doesn’t sign the bill quickly, people will lose their unemployment benefits that they – that is critical and Merry Christmas to everybody,” he said. “But I can’t think of a worse way to greet Christmas than to fail to sign the bill. If the president fails to sign the bill, normally it would become law after 10 days, but because Congress will return within 10 days, not counting Sundays, the — he has a pocket veto. So he can veto the bill, and we might override, or he simply could refuse to sign the bill.”
“The government funding shuts down at the end of Monday,” Sherman continued. “So my guess is that if he doesn’t sign the bill in the next couple of days that we will pass another continuing resolution, keeping the government on automatic pilot. But that would be a tragedy to people who are relying on eviction moratoriums, unemployment insurance, and so many other things in this COVID bill we need, including money for vaccine distribution.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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