Will the President use a Pocket Veto on the stimulus bill?

President Trump wants more money for Americans and less money for foreign aid, lobbyists, and special interests, so he rejected the stimulus bill yesterday evening during a speech on the matter. Speculation is spreading that he may not officially veto the stimulus package, opting instead to simply not sign it. With Congress adjourning no later than 11:59 am on January 3rd, that means Congress has until today at noon to get the bill on the President’s desk to prevent a Pocket Veto.

A president presented with a bill from Congress has 10 days, excluding Sundays, to sign or veto it. The exception is if Congress adjourns during that time period, in which case an unsigned and non-vetoed bill essentially disappears. The “Pocket Veto” time period happens to fall perfectly to run into adjournment IF they do not get the massive bill over to him by noon today.

A pocket veto occurs when Congress adjourns during the 10 day period. The President cannot return the bill to Congress.The President's decision not to sign the legislation is a pocket veto and Congress does not have the opportunity to override. https://t.co/KUyQ31SoEs#Checkmate pic.twitter.com/HVThZKwOeC

— WW News 🚨 (@WW_NEWS_) December 23, 2020

There’s another issue, though. The government is currently funded through December 28. The COVID-19 relief package was part of the greater omnibus that included government funding through next September. If the President doesn’t sign it before the current seven-day stopgap expires, the government will shut down.

Both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi expressed a desire to technically give President Trump what he asked for during his speech last night. They both blamed Republicans for being the roadblocks to achieving a $2000 relief check for American citizens and said they would welcome an increase. But time is short. It is effectively impossible to “amend” the bill in time unless they can make quick changes and vote on it by unanimous consent. That’s not going to happen.

Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Tweeted a simple proposal: Give the people the $2000 in a standalone bill and deal with everything else separately. That may actually be the only option left for Capitol Hill unless they want to try to force the current bill onto the President’s desk before noon today and rush an override of his expected veto.

Will Congress push the bill to the President before noon? Will the government shut down after December 28? Will Ilhan Omar be the surprising initiator of the President’s plan? So many questions. Grab the popcorn.

COVID-19 lockdowns are taking down an independent news outlet

Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.

Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.

When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.

Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the resurgence of lockdowns that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.

The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $17,300 to stay afloat through March when we hope the economy will be more open, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.

The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. In November, 2020, we hit 1.2 million visitors.

We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.

As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.

American Conservative Movement

Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.

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