U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks to the media after the weekly Senate Republican luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 10, 2020.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday (Dec. 31) described the Democrats’ proposed $2,000 direct payment relief check bill as “socialism for the rich” and said he believes targeted relief is needed in the economic stimulus bill.
“Our colleagues, the self-proclaimed champions of disadvantaged Americans, are now saying that what struggling people really need is for Congress to stop providing targeted relief specifically for them and instead send thousands of dollars to people who don’t need help.” McConnell said on the Senate floor on Dec. 31 that direct payments are the equivalent of “borrowing money from our grandchildren and socialism for the rich” and that it is a “terrible way to get help to families who really need it.
On Dec. 30, senior Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asked that the bill to fast-track direct payments and increase the amount of bailout checks be passed as a stand-alone bill, but McConnell rejected it.
McConnell tried to combine the bill with other provisions, such as establishing an investigative body to review allegations of fraud in the 2020 election and repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a regulation on the protection of social media companies. But Democrats say it’s a failed move.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) contended that McConnell’s merger bill won’t get passed because it doesn’t have the support of Democrats.
“There is one way, and one way only, to get a $2,000 check passed by the end of the year, and that is to pass the House bill.” Schumer said, “Either the Senate accepts and passes the House bill, or struggling Americans don’t get a $2,000 check in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”
McConnell, for his part, said the direct-payment bill he vetoed would have given thousands of dollars to families with substantial incomes who did not need the bailout money.
For those families, “no one is out of work, but our so-called progressive (doctrinaire) friends say American families need ‘survival checks.'” McConnell added, “In fact, they think a family of five should have to make $350,000 for the government funding valve to be fully closed.”
McConnell said it’s “socialism for the rich,” and “that’s what Speaker Pelosi and Senator Sanders are outlining, a terrible way to help those in need. Experts across the political spectrum agree (with this statement).”
Last week, President Trump (R-Texas) criticized the economic bailout bill passed by Congress and called for paying Americans $2,000 directly, instead of the $600 in the bill. The president later signed the bill on Sunday and asked Congress to eliminate some measures unrelated to the outbreak.
Some Democrats have used McConnell’s words and his move to block passage of the $2,000 direct payment to overshadow Georgia’s looming Senate runoff. on Jan. 5, 2021, Georgia’s two Republican U.S. Senate candidates, Kelly Loeffler (R) and David Perdue (R), will be running against Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock (R-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-CA).
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