President Donald Trump returned to Washington on New Year s Eve amid an ongoing fight with Congress
He s battling lawmakers over $2,000 stimulus checks, defense bill and certification of electoral college vote
Trump and Melania held hands while toward the White House before Trump headed to the Oval Office
On Thursday afternoon, the president also released a New Year s video message to the American people
Trump touted his accomplishments with Operation Warp Speed, saying everyone is calling to thank him
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell made clear there is no realistic path forward on Trump s demand to increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000; Senate moved forward to override Trump s veto of defense bill
Republican senator Ben Sasse says he ll take no part in Trump-backed plan to object to Electoral College vote and says in private not one GOP member believes election was fraudulent
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said he ll take no part in the Trump-backed plan to object to Electoral College vote counts on January 6
Sasse wrote an essay about the plot on Facebook calling Sen. Josh Hawley and other Republicans institutional arsonist members of Congress When we talk in private, I haven t heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the election results were fraudulent - not one, Sasse said
Sasse said lawmakers that get on board are trying to find a quick way to tap into the president s populist base but argued that it would be severely damaging
Our economy is really hurting here, he said. There s no way to get a vote by Jan. 3. The new Congress begins noon Jan. 3. So the new Congress, you could get a vote.
As Congress meets for a rare New Year s Eve session, the standoff over the COVID checks and the defense bill punctuates the president s final days. The one-two rebuke of his demands deepens the divide between the Republican Party s new wing of Trump-styled populists and what had been mainstay conservative views.
The stalemate is expected to drag into the weekend.
An exasperated Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said this week, After all the insanity that Senate Republicans have tolerated from President Trump his attacks on the rule of law, an independent judiciary, the conduct that led to his impeachment is this where Senate Republicans are going to draw the line $2,000 checks to the American people?
UpdatedThu, Dec 31, 2020 at 10:34 am ET
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A now hiring sign hangs on the front wall of a Harbor Freight Tools store in Manchester, New Hampshire. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to a still-high 787,000, according to a jobs report Thursday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
WASHINGTON, DC The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 last week to still historically high 787,000 as a resurgent coronavirus grips the U.S. economy.
While at the lowest level in four weeks, the new figures released Thursday by the Labor Department are nearly four times higher than last year at this point before the coronavirus struck. Employers continue to cut jobs as rising coronavirus infections keep many people at home and state and local governments re-impose restrictions.