(Al Drago/Reuters)
Republican Georgia senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue on Tuesday came out in favor of sending $2,000 coronavirus stimulus checks to Americans, a full week after President Trump voiced his support for the proposal.
“I agree with [President Trump] — we need to deliver $2000 direct relief checks to the American people,” Loeffler wrote in a tweet Tuesday morning.
Minutes later, Perdue tweeted, “[President Trump] is right — I support this push for $2,000 in direct relief for the American people.”
However, shortly after the GOP senators indicated their support, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the introduction of a bill that would have increased the direct payments in the coronavirus relief bill Trump signed on Sunday from $600 to $2,000.
Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock, running against Loeffler, and Jon Ossoff, running against Perdue, both criticized their opponents last week for appearing reluctant to back the larger relief checks even after the president and several other Senate Republicans said they supported the move.
On Wednesday, Warnock noted that Trump supports the $2000 stimulus checks for Americans and challenged Loeffler in several tweets, asking why if she “supports Trump 100% of the time, why won’t she support $2,000 relief checks?”
Loeffler “still won’t step up to deliver real relief to Georgia families,” Warnock wrote.
“I’ve stood by the president 100 percent of the time. I’m proud to do that and I’ve said, absolutely, we need to get relief to Americans now and I will support that,” Loeffler said on Fox News when asked whether she would support the increased checks.
On Thursday, Ossoff lobbed a similar criticism at Perdue.
“Senator David Perdue should stop this obstruction and endorse President Trump’s proposal for $2,000 checks. Let’s get the money moving to the people who need it,” Ossoff wrote in a tweet.
Trump on Tuesday called on the GOP in Congress to approve the $2000 stimulus checks “unless Republicans have a death wish,” adding that $600 in direct payments is “not enough.”
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