New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020
nypost.com
By EBony BowdEnHouse Speaker Nancy Pe-
losi and Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer on
Wednesday said they would
support a slimmed-down,
$908 billion bipartisan stimu-
lus plan unveiled by lawmak-
ers on Tuesday — signaling
more relief may be in sight
after months of gridlock.
In a joint statement, the
top Democrats in Congress
said they believed the pro-
posal, which includes more
funding for small businesses
and $300 weekly additional
unemployment insurance,
should form the basis of fur-
ther negotiations.
“While we made a new
offer to [Senate Majority]
Leader [Mitch] McConnell
and [House Minority]
Leader [Kevin] McCarthy
on Monday, in the spirit of
compromise we believe the
bipartisan framework intro-
duced by senators yesterday
should be used as the basis
for immediate bipartisan, bi-
cameral negotiations,” said
Pelosi and Schumer.
“Of course, we and others
will offer improvements, but
the need to act is immediate,
and we believe that with
good-faith negotiations we
could come to an agree-
ment,” they wrote.
Frustrated by Pelosi’s all-
or-nothing approach to the
negotiations — she has in-
sisted on sticking to a
$2.4 trillion bill laden with
non-emergent funding lines
that was passed by the
House — senators on both
sides of the aisle presented
their own plan that would
include a $300-per-week
federal unemploymentboost, $160 billion for state
and local governments and
$45 billion for struggling air-
lines and mass transit.
McConnell (R-Ky.) is also
finalizing a slim relief meas-
ure with an expected price
tag of $500 billion, telling re-
porters on Tuesday that
there was no more time “for
lengthy negotiations” and
“messaging games.”
There are currently three
paths to more relief:
McConnell’s plan, the bipar-
tisan proposal and an omni-
bus spending bill still being
hammered out by Pelosi and
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin.
Mnuchin speculated
Wednesday that President
Trump would be ready to
sign the proposal from
McConnell, as Congress re-
mained gridlocked on an-
other round of aid.
Legislators returned to
work Monday in hopes of
passing another round of re-
lief in the final weeks before
Christmas, but Democrats
and Republicans remain far
apart on how much should
be spent, and months of ne-
gotiations between Pelosi
and Mnuchin have failed to
yield a deal.
Democrats have not been
willing to go along with the
piecemeal approach being
presented by Republicans
and insist that having come
down to $2.4 trillion from
their $3 trillion bill passed in
May was enough.
Congress faces a Dec. 11
deadline to pass more gov-
ernment funding to prevent a
shutdown, and it’s likely that a
pandemic relief package
would be added onto that.
[email protected]Dems:
We’ll
deal!
Back $908M stim
President Trump threat-
ened to veto the annual de-
fense-spending bill if Con-
gress does not repeal Sec-
tion 230, which provides a
legal shield to Big Tech
companies for content on
their sites.
Trump issued the threat
via Twitter on Tuesday
evening, calling on the
House and Senate to in-
clude language repealing
Big Tech’s immunity in the
measure.
“Section 230, which is a li-
ability shielding gift from
the US to ‘Big Tech’ (the
only companies in America
that have it – corporate wel-
fare!), is a serious threat to
our National Security &
Election Integrity. Our
Country can never be safe
& secure if we allow it to
stand,” Trump wrote.
“Therefore, if the very
dangerous & unfair Section
230 is not completely ter-
minated as part of the Na-
tional Defense Authoriza-
tion Act (NDAA), I will be
forced to unequivocally
VETO the Bill.”
Section 230 of the 1996
Communications Decency
Act provides tech compa-
nies with liability protec-
tions against illegal content
posted by third-party users.
In addition to shielding
companies from being
sued by anyone who is
wronged by something
someone else has posted, it
allows the platforms to
moderate their content, as
long as moderation is done
“in good faith.”
Trump, joined by a grow-
ing chorus of GOP lawmak-
ers, has railed against Sec-
tion 230 in recent months,
arguing that it leads to the
censorship of conservative
voices.
Despite bipartisan sup-
port for the idea of taking
on Big Tech, one senior
House staffer told Politico
that Trump’s ultimatum
would not be successful.
“It’s a f--king joke. This is
a complex debate that has
no business as an 11th-hour
airdrop,” the senior staffer
said. Emily JacobsDon veto
squeeze
over Big
Tech
FacebookPresident Trump hinted during a
holiday reception at the White
House Tuesday evening that he
might run again in 2024 — as he
continues to allege widespread
voter fraud in this year’s election.
“It’s been an amazing four years,”
the president told the crowd, which
included many Republican National
Committee members. “We’re trying
to do another four years. Otherwise,
I’ll see you in four years.”
Attendee Pam Pollard, national
committeewoman for the Oklahoma
GOP, streamed footage of Trump’sremarks live on Facebook.
Trump is heard continuing to
claim election fraud to explain his
defeat by President-elect Joe Biden.
“It’s certainly an unusual year. We
won an election. But they don’t like
that,” Trump told the group, adding:
“I call it a rigged election, and I al-
ways will.”
On Wednesday night, Trump
posted a 46-minute video on Face-
book (pictured), repeating unproven
claims of voter fraud and espousing
baseless conspiracy theories.
Yaron Steinbuch, Wires