Joyce N. Boghosian/The White House via Getty Images
President Donald Trump has signed the Covid-19 relief bill, averting a looming government shutdown that would have happened on Tuesday if the bill failed to pass.
After days of refusing to sign the bill and making demands for the $600 stimulus checks to be increased to $2,000, Trump tweeted on Sunday evening that there was “good news” coming regarding the bill, as Mediaite reported earlier.
Media outlets began reporting that a room at Mar-a-Lago, where the president is spending the Christmas holidays, was being prepared by staff for a bill signing ceremony.
Around 8 pm ET, reporters began tweeting that the bill had been signed, including Politico’s Jake Sherman and Meridith McGraw, and Zeke Miller with the AP.
The White House just sent out a statement officially confirming that the bill was signed.
Trump also released a statement taking credit for helping America avoid “another Great Depression,” and listing several demands that he had, including the $2,000 checks again, rescissions of certain budget items that
“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,” wrote Trump.
“Much more money is coming,” the president concluded. “I will never give up my fight for the American people!”
This is a breaking story and has been updated.