93-3-WMR Audio on Demand presents the Preston and Steve show podcast.

And now, Preston and Steve's news updates with Kathy Romano.

And today is Wednesday, December 23rd.

Good morning, Kathy.

Good morning in the news this morning.

President Donald Trump, late Tuesday, threatened to torpedo Congress's massive COVID-19 relief package in the midst of a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty, suddenly demanding changes fellow Republicans have opposed.

Trump assailed the bipartisan $900 billion package in a video he tweeted out Tuesday night and suggested he may not sign the legislation.

He called on lawmakers to increase direct payments for most Americans from $600 to $2,000 for

individuals and $4,000 for couples.

Railing against a range of provisions in the bill, including for foreign aid, he told lawmakers

to get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items of this legislation and to send me a suitable

bill. Trump did not specifically vow to veto the bill and there may be enough support for

legislation in Congress to override him if he does. But if Trump were to append the sprawling

legislation, the consequences would be severe, including no federal aid to struggling Americans

and small businesses and no additional aid to struggling Americans and small businesses

and no additional resources to help with vaccine distribution.

In addition, because lawmakers linked the pandemic relief bill to overarching funding measures,

the government would shut down on December 29th.

The relief package was part of a hard-fought compromise bill that includes $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies

through September and contains other end-of-session priorities such as money for cash

sarve transit systems and increase in food stamp benefits and about $4 billion to help other

nations provide a COVID-19 vaccine for their people.

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