No, the COVID stimulus isn’t sending $85M to Cambodia
Updated Dec 23, 2020; Posted Dec 23, 2020
By Benjamin Kail | [email protected]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the bipartisan $908 billion COVID-19 stimulus package a “disgrace” stuffed with wasteful spending, though the bulk of his complaints actually centered on foreign aid and money for nonprofits and research in the overall year-end spending bill Congress passed to fund the next fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown.

Speaking from the White House and effectively threatening to dismantle months of bipartisan work on a stimulus agreement, the president complained about separate funding including $85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia; $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan; $1.3 billion for military assistance in Egypt; and tens of millions for research programs and museums that aren’t even open due to the pandemic.

“It’s called the COVID relief bill, but has almost nothing to do with COVID,” the president claimed. “Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it.”

But in fact, those funds are not part of the $908 billion COVID-19 stimulus package, which sends $600 checks to most Americans; extends a weekly $300 unemployment insurance boost through the spring; and provides hundreds of millions in small business loans and helps fund hospitals and schools as vaccine distribution ramps up.

The COVID-19 stimulus was simply one of many bills tacked on to the overall 2021 spending package to close out the congressional session. For details on the COVID-19 relief bill, here is a 29-page summary provided by lawmakers.

Most of Trump’s complaints were actually about the $1.4 trillion, 5,500-plus-page omnibus spending bill, which will fund the federal government through next September. Such bills always include agency funding, foreign aid — which Trump has often derided — as well as investments in research and new regulations or tax policies.

The latest omnibus bill, for instance, includes $23.3 billion to NASA, including $850 million for its project to send humans back to the moon in 2024. NASA sought more than $25 billion overall, according to Space.com.

The omnibus spending bill also included $35 million for programs on sexual abstinence, as well as a tax break for racehorse owners, which rankled members of both parties. The year-end spending bill also provided 3% pay raises for military members and 1% raises for federal employees.
More: https://www.masslive.com/politics/2020/ ... -deal.html