US PRESIDENT Donald Trump U-turned on Sunday night to sign a $900 billion (£670bn) pandemic relief Bill he had vowed to block.

The president’s change of heart came as Democrats sought to call his bluff on claims he wanted relief cheques for US households increased from $600 (£450) to $2,000 (£1,450).

The Bill, negotiated between the Republican and Democratic parties for months as it needs to pass the Republican-controlled Senate and Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, includes $1.4 trillion in spending to fund federal agencies as well as social security spending. 

Democrats responded to Mr Trump’s surprise demand for relief cheques to be increased to $2,000 per household by scheduling a vote to raise them to that level for today. Democrat House leader Nancy Pelosi said her party was happier with a larger cheque, with the Republicans so far having opposed this. 

And Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “Let’s do it. [Fellow Congresswoman] Rashida Tlaib and I already co-wrote the Covid amendment for $2,000 cheques, so it’s ready to go. Glad to see the President is willing to support our legislation. We can pass the $2k cheques this week if the Senate GOP [Republican Party] agrees to stand down.”

Mr Trump swiftly U-turned, avoiding the embarrassment of seeing his own party shoot down an amendment he’d demanded.

Unemployment benefits, food stamps and small business loans were in limbo over the weekend while Mr Trump threatened not to sign. The delay is still likely to cost many families a week’s benefits, Democrats say.

And families in rent arrears feared eviction as the Bill also extended a pandemic ban on evictions. Federal revenues would have been exhausted by last night without the Bill authorising them for the next nine months.

Congress was set to vote today to overturn President Trump’s veto of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) which approves the US’s colossal military budget. Mr Trump vetoed the Act on a number of unrelated grounds, including its provisions for renaming US military bases currently named for Confederate leaders, as well as because it blocked his calls to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan and Germany. US military spending generally receives cross-party support and the NDAA has passed without a hitch for the last 59 years.