Two governors also said that the time for negotiations had passed. On “State of the Union,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat, said that she had long supported stimulus checks of $2,000, but that it was too late in the process to be making those kinds of requests.
“Sign the bill, get it done, and then if the president wants to push for more, let’s get that done too,” said Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican who also appeared on the show.
Another governor, Jay Inslee of Washington, said that Mr. Trump “has chosen to hold the entire relief package hostage.” Mr. Inslee, a Democrat, announced on Sunday that the state would provide $54 million in funding for almost 100,000 people set to lose unemployment assistance benefits.
Though they harshly criticized Mr. Trump, two progressive representatives-elect joined the president’s call for greater direct payments. On “State of the Union,” Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of New York, claimed that the president was “posturing to make himself, to bring himself back as the hero of the American people” after his defeat in November. But like Mr. Trump, he said Americans needed more relief.
“It needs to at least be $2,000, so he needs to talk to his Republican buddies and say ‘give the people the money,’” said Cori Bush, Democrat of Missouri, who also called the $600 figure a “slap in the face to people who are suffering.”
Democrats, who have long advocated increasing the amount of financial relief distributed across the country, plan to hold a vote on Monday to approve a stand-alone bill that would increase the payments to $2,000. It is unclear whether that legislation will stand a chance in the Senate, where Republicans have long been resistant to spending more than $1 trillion on pandemic relief.
Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, said that he would oppose such a measure and urged the president to sign the bill, adding that “time is running out.”
