Biden unveils $1.9T COVID-19 relief package with $1,400 checks
President-elect announces plans for additional economic relief to help those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Wednesday, Democrats will control the White House, as well as both houses of Congress.
With the GOP losing control of the presidency and in the minority in the House and Senate, a new national survey indicates that a majority of Republicans want their leaders in Congress to stand up to Biden on issues that matter most to them.
BIDEN PROPOSES SPENDING $1.9 TRILLION FOR COVID 'RESCUE' PLAN
Nearly six in 10 (59%) Republicans questioned in a Pew Research Center poll urge GOP leaders in Congress to stand up to the incoming president, even if it’s harder to address critical issues facing the country.
According to the survey, 38% of Republicans say their congressional leaders should try to work with the incoming Democratic president, even if it means disappointing some GOP voters.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event at The Queen theater, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The question asked by Pew in the poll will be put to the test almost immediately after Biden enters the White House.
On Thursday, the president-elect unveiled a massive $1.9 trillion "rescue" plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic, speed up COVID vaccinations and increase testing, and provide relief aid for everyday Americans and businesses. While nearly all congressional Democrats are expected to embrace the plan, some Republicans in Congress are already raising objections to the measure’s price tag, as well as specific items in the package.
President Trump will depart the White House and fly to his home in Florida early Wednesday, hours ahead of Biden’s inauguration. Trump was politically wounded following last week’s unprecedented attack on the Capitol by some who were attempting to prevent a joint session of Congress from formally certifying Biden’s Electoral College victory over Trump in the presidential election.
The storming of the Capitol left five people, including a Capitol Hill Police officer, dead and the building vandalized. Trump was impeached by the House this week for "incitement of insurrection."
ONLY A TINY FRACTION OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS SUPPORT IMPEACHING TRUMP: POLL
According to the Pew Research poll, 57% of Republicans want Trump to remain a major political figure for years to come. Four in 10 Republicans questioned in the survey disagreed.
While Trump’s approval rating among Republicans still remains healthy, it has taken a hit in the wake of the insurrection.
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 12: U.S. President Donald Trump turns to reporters as he exits the White House to walk toward Marine One on the South Lawn on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. Following last week's deadly pro-Trump riot on Capitol Hill, President Trump is making his first public appearance with a trip to the border town of Alamo, Texas to view the partial construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The president’s approval rating in the Pew survey -- which was released Friday and conducted from Jan. 8-12 -- stands at 60%, down from 77% in August of last year.
But Trump’s approval rating among Republicans in a new ABC News/Washington Post national poll -- released Friday and conducted Jan. 10-13 -- remains a robust 79%. But that’s down from a sky-high 88% in October 2020, the last time ABC News and The Washington Post asked the question.
And a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in the three days immediately following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 and released at the beginning of this week showed the president’s approval among GOP voters at 71% approval. That’s a drop from 89% in last month’s Quinnipiac poll.
PENCE FRONT AND CENTER IN DAYS FOLLOWING CAPITOL ATTACK
A major question going forward is how much clout will a wounded, soon-to-be-former President Trump hold over the GOP, a party he reshaped and ruled over during his four years in the White House.
Nearly two-thirds of House Republicans -- even after the joint session of Congress was delayed six hours after the attack on the Capitol -- objected to certifying the Electoral College results in two states that Biden narrowly edged over Trump in the presidential election. And 197 House Republicans voted Wednesday against impeaching Trump, with just 10 GOP lawmakers joining all 222 Democrats in voting for impeachment.
Before the attack on the Capitol -- which came soon after the president urged a large crowd of supporters he addressed at a rally near the White House to march to the Capitol and show strength in protesting the certification of an election he’s repeatedly and falsely claimed was "rigged" and rampant with "voter fraud" -- Trump had vowed to play an influential role in the party going forward. He was also flirting with a 2024 presidential run to try and win back the White House.
Now, with the possibility of being barred from running for federal office ever again if he’s convicted in the Senate impeachment trial, Trump’s future political ambitions are in a precarious state.
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