Several lawmakers on Sunday railed against President Trump and demanded he sign the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill and $1.4 trillion government funding measure passed by Congress last week.
Why it matters: Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans lapsed overnight, and the federal government may be forced to shut down this week if Trump does not sign the measure.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on "Fox News Sunday" urged President Trump to sign the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill and $1.4 trillion government funding measure passed by Congress or risk being "remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior."
The big picture: President Trump indicated in a video last week he won't sign the measure unless it's amended to increase the $600 direct payments to Americans. Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans lapsed overnight and Trump's refusal to sign the bill could trigger a government shutdown this week.
Expanded unemployment benefits are set to lapse for millions of struggling Americans after President Trump resisted calls to sign the stimulus bill before the end of Saturday.
Why it matters: "States cannot pay out benefits for weeks that begin before the bill is signed, meaning that if the president does not sign the bill [Saturday], benefits will not restart until the first week of January. But they will still end in mid-March, effectively trimming the extension to 10 weeks from 11," the New York Times reports.
Federal prosecutors and Nashville police on Saturday said they are following more than 500 leads and tips in their investigation into an explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas morning.
The big picture: The explosion, which injured at least three people, caused widespread telephone, internet and other outages in central Tennessee and in parts of neighboring states. Federal agents searched the home of a possible person of interest in the Nashville suburb of Antioch Saturday, per multiple reports.
A federal judge has delayed the execution of Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row, ruling that the Department of Justice didn't follow the proper timeline under a previous court order, AP reports.
Why it matters: Under the order, Bureau of Prisons cannot reschedule Montgomery’s execution until at least Jan. 1, potentially setting up an execution date after President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
Republican lawmakers in key states that President-elect Biden won have vowed to crack down on voting reforms implemented amid the coronavirus pandemic that made it easier for Americans to vote, according to AP.
Why it matters: The popular reforms contributed to this year's record turnout and did not produce widespread fraud as claimed by President Trump and his supporters, according to the Department of Justice.
