Georgia Senate candidate Jon Ossoff criticized Congress’ $900 billion pandemic relief package, arguing the bill is insufficient in its current form.
The Senate hopeful claimed the $600 stimulus doesn’t go far enough for people who are suffering amid financial fallout from the pandemic on Tuesday.
“The bottom line is that $600 is a joke,” Ossoff told MSNBC. “We need additional, substantial direct Covid relief, and the only way we’ll get it is by winning these two Senate races in Georgia.”
Ossoff, a Democrat, blamed Republicans for what he perceives as faults in the bill.
“It’s [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell and Republicans in the Senate and [Sen.] David Perdue, my opponent, who opposed even the first round of $1,200 checks, who have been holding this up for months, and who cut the direct stimulus payments in half as we enter the holiday season,” he said.
Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who is running against Raphael Warnock in dual Georgia Senate runoffs, issued a joint statement defending their support for the relief package and faulting Democrats for delaying a vote on it.
“Together, we are delivering nearly $1 trillion in additional aid to the American people on top of the $3 trillion already disbursed … We will not stop fighting for the people of Georgia,” the statement read. “Sadly, but not surprisingly, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi … purposely [held] up relief that could have been delivered months ago. Republicans have been voting to pass this relief since September — but for Democrats, it’s all politics all of the time.”
Perdue and Loeffler are joined by Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who touted the billions of dollars that will go to his constituents in New York.
Conversely, some Republicans, such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, join Ossoff in criticizing the package, albeit for different reasons. Paul deems the stimulus payouts too extravagant an expense for a nation currently plagued by more than $27 trillion in debt.
“If free money were the answer, if money really grew on trees, why not give more free money?” he lamented in a viral speech delivered from the floor of the Senate. “Why not give it out all the time? Why stop at $600 a person? Why not $1,000? Why not $2,000? Maybe these new Free-Money Republicans should join the Everybody-Gets-A-Guaranteed-Income Caucus? Why not $20,000 a year for everybody? Why not $30,000? If we can print out money with impunity, why not do it?”
