Trump reverses on coronavirus stimulus deal, signs package he called a 'disgrace'

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Donald Trump signed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package Sunday, despite a remarkable video message he posted to social media days earlier in which he called  the bipartisan legislation a "disgrace." 

"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," Trump said in a statement announcing he had signed the bill.  

After weeks of negotiation and bipartisan votes of approval in the House and Senate, Trump on Tuesday unexpectedly slammed the COVID stimulus legislation but stopped short of saying he would veto it. The message upended Washington, drew bipartisan condemnation and threatened to end a chaotic year with a government shutdown.

But after a growing number of Republicans pushed back on Trump's reticence – and Democrats quickly embraced Trump's idea of larger direct payments and used it as a cudgel against GOP lawmakers – Trump relented. The president, who has been spending the holidays at his Florida resort, hinted he had won concessions from lawmakers but it was not clear if that was actually the case. 

The bill, which was attached to a $1.4 trillion spending measure to keep the government running through September. Without the bill, government funding had been set to run out at midnight on Monday.Trump said he would request that Congress rescind some of the funding it approved, but the prospects for those requests were slim given that President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated in less than a month.