Biden says Democratic win in Georgia Senate polls will see $2k checks reaching people: 'Power is in your hands'
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday, January 4, told voters in Georgia that a third coronavirus stimulus check will be a reality if the Democrats won the crucial Senate runoff elections in the state on Tuesday, January 5. The blue party will be able to flip the Peach State if they manage to bag both seats albeit a 50-50 split since Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will have the tie-breaking vote.
Though Congress recently passed a second Covid-19 relief package, an effort to increase the paychecks from $600 to $2,000 did not materialize despite President Trump's backing. A separate bill towards that direction was passed by the Democrat-dominated House but Senate Majority Leader McConnell refused to support it, calling the idea “socialism for rich people”.
Mitch McConnell today blocked Senate Democrats' efforts to unanimously pass a House measure to up the stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600. https://t.co/cnGFg3BBam
— Axios (@axios) December 29, 2020
'The power is literally in your hands'
Biden pounced upon the point at once while campaigning in Atlanta on the eve of the elections. He said: "If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door.” He also said: "And if you send Senators Perdue and Loeffler back to Washington, those checks will never get there. It's just that simple. The power is literally in your hands.”
Democrat Jon Ossoff was challenging incumbent GOP Senator David Perdue, 38 years senior to him, while Raphael Warnock, a pastor, locked horns with Kelly Loeffler, also an incumbent senator.
“The debate over $2,000 isn't some abstract debate in Washington, it's about real lives. Your lives, the lives of good, hardworking Americans. If you're like millions of Americans all across this country, you need the money, you need the help, and you need it now,” Biden, who became the first Democrat to win Georgia in a presidential election after 28 years, added. Biden, however, won by a narrow margin and Trump has challenged it saying it was he who actually won the state.
The 78-year-old incoming president also said that electing Ossoff and Warnock would mean putting an end to “the gridlock that has gripped Washington and this nation" and allowing the Congress to further his agenda on jobs, health care, justice and the environment, as well as Covid-19 relief efforts. The Democrats have won the presidency besides keeping control of the House and are in a tug-of-war with the GOP now over control of the Senate.
Loeffler and Perdue also backed Trump's last-minute push to raise the amount of the direct cash payment but McConnell’s rigid stance along with some other Republicans’ opposition denied the Americans a chance to get bigger relief.
I agree with @realDonaldTrump — we need to deliver $2,000 direct relief checks to the American people.
— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) December 29, 2020
Americans have received or are waiting to get two stimulus checks as of now — one for $1,200 and another for $600.
Conservative outlet blasts Biden
Conservative outlets like The Western Journal slammed the president-elect over his speech saying he should stop the “You get a car!” attitude and that the elections were not "The Oprah Winfrey Show”.
“This started decades ago with former Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt, whose New Deal policies drastically expanded social programs and the American welfare state. His legacy has put a stain on how politicians campaign and govern, which sometimes means seriously misleading voters by giving them false hope,” a commentary piece in the Journal said.
The piece also took a dig at those Republicans who backed the idea of paying more money as a relief, including Perdue and Loeffler, and said to reduce an election to “What candidate will give me money?” is dangerous for the country’s economic future. It also advised the GOP to opt for fiscal conservatism saying fiscal liberalism will push the US into a deeper financial difficulty in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic that has left the health sector and the economy in a bad shape.
Meanwhile, CNBC News reported that the two runoff elections in Georgia were too close to call as polls closed. Both elections went to runoffs after no candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote in the November general election.