Holidays at Hilton Aruba Wednesday Caribbean Resort & Casino December 30, 2020 T: 582-7800 www.arubatoday.com facebook.com/arubatoday instagram.com/arubatoday Page 10 Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper Senate GOP blocks swift vote on Trump's $2K checks By LISA MASCARO and JILL COLVIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked Dem- ocrats' push to immediately bring President Donald Trump's demand for bigger $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks up for a vote, saying the chamber would "begin a process" to ad- dress the issue. Pressure is mounting on the Republican-led Senate to follow the House, which voted over- whelmingly on Monday to meet the president's demand to increase the checks from $600 as the virus crisis worsens. A growing number of Republicans, including two senators in runoff elections on Jan. 5 in Georgia, have said they will support the larger amount. But most GOP senators oppose more spending, even if they are also wary of bucking Trump. Continued on Page 2 The Capitol is seen, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, in Washington. Associated Press A2 WEDNESDAY 30 DECEMBER 2020 UP FRONT Senate GOP blocks swift vote on Trump's $2K checks Continued from Front most all Democrats for a robust two-thirds vote of The outcome is highly un- approval. certain heading into the In the Senate, McConnell rare holiday-week session. is expected to be devis- "There's one question left ing a way out of the bind, today: Do Senate Repub- perhaps incorporating two licans join with the rest other issues Trump raised of America in supporting Sunday as he ultimately $2,000 checks?" Senate signed the massive pack- Democratic leader Chuck age into law. Schumer said as he made Trump repeated his frustra- a motion to vote. tions over the outcome of McConnell, who has said the presidential election, little publicly on Trump's re- which he lost to President- quest, objected but gave elect Joe Biden, as well as almost no indication of his the ability of technology plans ahead. companies like Facebook "The Senate will begin a and Twitter to regulate process," the GOP leader content in ways Trump be- said. He said he plans to lieves are unfair. bring the president's de- "Those are the three impor- mand for the $2,000 checks tant subjects the president and other remaining issues has linked together," Mc- "into focus." Followed by a staffer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., right, leaves the Capitol for Connell said. The showdown has thrown the day, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Trump's push could fizzle Congress into a chaotic Associated Press out in the Senate and do year-end session just days payments in a compromise second time. ed relief checks. little to change the COV- before new lawmakers over the big year-end relief The GOP blockade may Trump repeated his de- ID-19 relief and federal are set to be sworn into of- bill Trump reluctantly signed not be sustainable in the mand in a tweet ahead of spending package Trump fice for the new year. It's into law. face of Trump's demands Tuesday's Senate session: signed into law. preventing action on an- Liberal senators led by and as senators face the "$2000 for our great peo- But the debate over the other priority — overturning Bernie Sanders of Vermont constituents at home. ple, not $600!" size and scope of the Trump's veto on a sweep- who support the relief aid The two GOP senators Following Trump's lead, Re- package — $900 billion in ing defense bill that has are blocking action on the from Georgia, David Per- publican Sens. Josh Haw- COVID-19 aid and $1.4 tril- been approved every year defense bill until a vote can due and Kelly Loeffler, an- ley of Missouri and Marco lion to fund government for 60 years. be taken on Trump's de- nounced Tuesday they Rubio of Florida, among agencies — is potentially The president's last-minute mand for $2,000 for most support Trump's plan for the party's potential 2024 one last confrontation be- push for bigger checks Americans. bigger checks as they face presidential hopefuls, are tween the president and deeply divides Republi- "The working class of this Democrats Jon Ossoff and pushing the party in the the Republican Party. The cans, who are split be- country today faces more Raphael Warnock in runoff president's direction. new Congress is set to be tween those who align with economic desperation elections that will deter- "We've got the votes. sworn in Sunday. Trump's populist instincts than at any time since the mine which party controls Let's vote today," Hawley For now, the $600 checks and those who adhere Great Depression of the the Senate. tweeted. The House vote are set to be delivered, to what had been more 1930s," Sanders said as he "I'm delighted to support late Monday was a stun- along with other aid, traditional conservative also tried to force a vote on the president," said Perdue ning turn of events. Just among the largest rescue views against government the relief checks. "Working on Fox News. Loeffler said days ago, during a brief packages of its kind. spending. Congress had families need help now." in an interview on Fox that Christmas Eve session, Re- The COVID-19 portion of settled on smaller $600 But McConnell objected a she, too, backs the boost- publicans blocked Trump's the bill revives a weekly sudden demand for big- pandemic jobless ben- ger checks as he defiantly efit boost — this time $300, refused to sign the broader through March 14 — as COVID-19 aid and year- well as the popular Pay- end funding bill into law. check Protection Program As Trump spent days fum- of grants to businesses to ing from his private club in keep workers on payrolls. Florida, where he is spend- It extends eviction protec- ing the holidays, millions of tions, adding a new rental Americans saw jobless aid assistance fund. lapse and the nation risked Americans earning up to a federal government shut- $75,000 will qualify for the down Tuesday. direct $600 payments, Dozens of Republicans cal- which are phased out at culated it was better to link higher income levels, and with Democrats to increase there's an additional $600 the pandemic payments payment per dependent rather than buck the out- child. going president and con- Biden told reporters at an stituents counting on the event Monday in Wilm- money. House Democrats ington, Delaware, that led passage, 275-134, but he supported the $2,000 44 Republicans joined al- checks.q A3 U.S. NEWS WEDNESDAY 30 DECEMBER 2020 Wiser resolutions? Lessons from COVID’s unfulfilled ones By MELISSA RAYWORTH mendous psychological Yoga teacher Pamela Egg- Associated Press labor. That work is invis- leston shifted her teaching She’d wanted to frame ible, but it takes its toll, says online, filming a self-care and hang them — just Catherine Sanderson, chair course for Yoga Journal three printed pictures that of the psychology depart- to help people thrive dur- had been sitting in Lucy ment at Amherst College. ing this challenging year. O’Donoghue’s suburban For much of the nation, the Teaching exclusively on- Atlanta house since the sense in the early days of line “was a challenge for year began. That’s all. Yet quarantine that the disrup- me. But I did it,” she says. with a full-time job and two tion would be brief soon Though she’s based in the small kids, she hadn’t found melted into an amorphous Washington, D.C., area, the time. uncertainty. she soon had students tun- But when COVID-19 The normal guardrails that ing in from as far away as slowed life to a quaran- govern the days — get- Scotland. And something tine-induced crawl, she ting dressed and out the else: She returned to social began working remotely. door on time, driving kids justice activism this year. It seemed like the perfect to sports practices and “I’ve done more of that time to get this — and a dance classes on a tight than I had done in a This image provided by Lucy O’Donoghue shows a children slew of other small projects schedule in the evenings while,” Eggleston says. “It playing by a lake. — done. — disappeared for many. feels good to me to return Associated Press Eight months later, So while having extra time to these issues. They never might have seen quaran- mental health, was simplici- O’Donoghue finally walked might have seemed like a leave me, as a Black wom- tine as a time to be highly ty. So I’m carrying that over the two short blocks to a bright spot, it was also dis- an.” productive — and would into 2021 with intentional store near her house and orienting. WHAT REALLY MATTERS have beaten herself up if simplifying,” she says. bought a trio of ready- With too much unstruc- Tough times can be clarify- she wasn’t. “I’m normally So with those early-quar- made frames. tured time, “I feel this aim- ing. They aren’t always so, someone that thrives on al- antine resolutions in mind, “I put the pieces of art up in lessness,” says Steph Auteri, but they can be. ways being busy, jumping how do we approach this my house, and that made a writer who lives in Vero- People may not have tack- from one thing to another,” weekend, the moment of me so happy,” she says.