Georgia’s established GOP senators, who are fighting to keep their seats in the special runoff, are in a tough position after President Trump’s eleven-hour demand to Congress approve $ 2,000 stimulus check payments in coronavirus assistance.
Senator Kelley Loeffler, in a tight race against the Democratic candidate, Pastor Raphael Warnock, said she would consider voting for the new figure that Democrats originally pushed into the stimulus package if it diverted funds from “wasting spending.”
“I will definitely look into supporting it if it recycles wasteful spending on it,” she said during a campaign event on Wednesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
In a Tuesday night speech from the White House, Trump condemned the latest coronavirus aid package, which was adopted with overwhelming support from both parties. He urged Congress to send him an “appropriate” bill of stimulus control that more than doubles the $ 600 figure that Congress allocated earlier this week.
Following the president’s remarks Tuesday night, Democrats jumped at the chance to demand increased stimulus control. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted: “Republicans have repeatedly refused to say what amount the president would have for direct control. Finally, the president has accepted $ 2,000.”
“Mr. President, sign the bill to keep the government open! Calls on McConnell and McCarthy to agree to the Democratic unanimous request for consent to direct payments of $ 2,000,” she added in a tweet Wednesday. “This can be done at noon on Christmas Eve!”
TRUMP SEATS GOP ON HEELS WITH 11 HOURS STIMULUS REQUIREMENTS, Throws wrench into Georgia’s Senate race
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., said she and fellow “squad” member Rep. Rashida Talib, D-Mich., Had already agreed to a $ 900 billion amendment to the aid package to increase funding for stimulus control. .
“I’m in. Whaddya says, Mitch?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said late Tuesday night. “Let’s not get stuck with ideological shifts and unrelated objects and just DO THIS! The American people deserve it.”
Loeffler and her GOP counterpart in the second “Peach State” runoff, Senator David Perdue, voted in favor of the bill Monday, but their Democratic challengers Warnock and Jon Ossoff both called for backing Trump’s calls for increased stimulus control, respectively.
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“As I have said from the outset, the Senate should have acted on this months ago, and support for the Georgians should have been far greater,” Warnock said Wednesday. “Donald Trump is right, Congress needs to quickly increase direct payments to $ 2,000.”
Trump has not said whether he will try to veto the latest coronavirus aid package, although Congress passed the measure with veto support from both parties.
It is unclear at this time how congressional Republicans will vote on the amendment to the coronavirus assistance proposal.