Kamala Harris and husband donate to Toys for Tots

Vice President-elect Kamala and husband Doug Emhoff visit Washington DC fire station number one to drop off toys as the station serves as one of the Toys for Tots drop-off locations in the Nation's capital.

Toys for Tots has distributed 584 million toys to 265 million children since it was started by the U.S. Marine Corps in 1947. Last year, the D.C. chapter of Toys for Tots distributed 124,269 toys to 47,712 children locally.

Vice President-elect Harris, Mr. Emhoff, and their staff purchased 46 gifts for local children and their families from Sullivan's Toys & Art Supplies, family-owned and operated since 1954 making it D.C.'s oldest toy shop still in operation.

At the event Harris was asked her response to President Donald Trump's threatening to tank Congress' massive COVID relief and government funding package. Trump's demand for bigger aid checks for Americans confronts Republicans traditionally leery of such spending with an uncomfortable test of allegiance.

"The challenge was, as even the speaker said, they didn't get any feedback from the president, Harris said.

"I know that Democrats certainly wanted to get more relief than the 600 dollars and you know, people are hurting right now, they're hurting and we need to get the relief to them immediately. And the one thing you should not be doing is after the work went into the bill holding up, when by the end of the month, people are going to see their benefits are going to end."

On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare Republicans to break with Trump, calling up his proposal for a Christmas Eve vote. The president's last-minute objection could gum up critical legislation amid a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty. His attacks risk a federal government shutdown by early next week.

Harris also told reporters California Secretary of State Alex Padilla selected by Gov. Gavin Newsom to become the state's first Latino U.S. senator will  "do a great job."

The pick received a mixed reception because Newsom bypassed African American candidates to replace Vice President-elect Harris, the Senate's only Black woman. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who is Black, called Newsom's decision "a real blow to the African American community."

Padilla says he will be a senator for all Californians.