House Democrat to Donald Trump: ‘Put Up, Shut Up, and Get Out of the Way’ on COVID-19 Relief
President Donald Trump should “put up, shut up, or get out of the way” after refusing to sign the latest COVID-19 economic stimulus bill, which contains $600 direct payments to financially-strapped Americans, renewed unemployment benefits, and an extension of the federal moratorium on evictions, Representative Raul Ruiz (D-CA) said on Saturday.
Trump, surprising even his own advisers, threatened to veto the legislation unless Congress increased the cash assistance to $2,000. Because the enhanced Pandemic Unemployment Assistance expired on Saturday, millions of jobless workers will not receive their unemployment checks unless Trump signs the existing bill or Congress passes a stand-alone provision authorizing $2,000 checks.
After a brief discussion about the worsening coronavirus pandemic in California – the first state to top two million confirmed cases – host Tiffany Cross broached the subject of Trump’s plot twist.
“I tend to think that this president has a flair for the drama, you know, he likes to draw these things out because he’s treated governing as though it’s a reality TV show,” said Cross. “But … this is not a game. Today people run out of money. Monday the government is set to shut down. For people who are sitting here waiting on a very thin layer of ice before they sink deeper into poverty and devastation, really, what do you predict is going to happen, and what can the Democrats in Congress do about it?”
Raul said that “somebody needs to just really get ahold of this president and tell him that we’re done with the theatrics, that he needs to put up, shut up, or shut up and get out of the way.”
Trump needs to “let people receive their stimulus checks. Let’s extend the unemployment insurance, and if he is serious about the $2,000 per person increase in the stimulus check, then put up. Let’s make it happen,” Ruiz continued.
The Congressman then reamed the president for absconding to Florida while the country starves.
“I don’t see him on television putting pressure on [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell, [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy. I don’t see him out there really rallying his base on making sure Republicans are out to increase the stimulus check. Instead, he’s checked out in Mar-a-Lago playing golf,” added Ruiz.
“So either put up or shut up and get out of the way, because people are struggling right now. They’re anxious. They’re concerned,” Ruiz said of the battered, exhausted, and frustrated American public. “They had to look at their children’s faces and tell them they couldn’t have the Christmas they normally — they normally could, and that was heartbreaking for millions of parents out there.”
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