Second stimulus check: can President Trump veto HEROES Act?
On Friday 15 May the House approved the $3 trillion relief package called the HEROES Act but president Donald Trump was quick to state that it was ‘dead on arrival’ to the Senate.
The Democrats proposed the HEROES Act and on Friday the House of Representatives approved the $3 trillion coronavirus relief package that among other provisions, it would give a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks to millions of Americans struggling through with the economic effects the Covid-19 outbreak.
HEROES "dead on arrival"
When the bill was passed President Donald Trump made it very clear that it would be "DOA. Dead on arrival" to the Republican-controlled Senate. Discussions of the bill in the Senate were always expected to take place after the Memorial Day weekend, and now that we are passed that the focus returns.
Trump also said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew the bill was DOA. The White House and the Senate Republicans have said they will cast the bill aside and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dismissed it as a “liberal wish list” from the Democrats.
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“An unserious product from an unserious majority,” said McConnel who agrees with Trump's administration to veto the bill before it arrives at the Senate. Only one Republican supported the bill and it was Peter King of New York because the relief measure would provide for state and local governments.
Fourteen Democrats voted down the bill in the House, many of them claiming the measure didn’t go far enough to provide relief for millions of Americans who are economically struggling due to the public health crisis. "We’re putting our offer on the table, we’re open to negotiation," Pelosi said on Thursday, acknowledging the long odds of the bill becoming law.
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Can Trump Veto the bill if passed?
If the efforts of the Democrats pay off - no matter how unlikely that seems at the moment - and their pressure results in the Republican-controlled Senate passing the HEROES Act, President Donald Trump still has the power to veto it. If that happened, the bill would then go back to the House and Senate and would require a 2/3 majority in both chambers to become law. The 45th president of the U.S. has already vetoed six bills during his time in the White House.
There have been 2,580 presidential vetoes in the history of the United States since 1789. Once the Senate has had its say on the HEROES Act, Trump will have 10 days (not including Sundays) in which to sign the bill into law or make the total 2,581. Don't hold your breath though...