Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue called President Donald Trump’s proposal to provide $2,000 in direct payments to Americans “the right thing to do for people in Georgia” during a Tuesday morning appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
Trump’s call for the additional $1,400 in direct payments over the $600 that was already agreed-upon threatened to sidetrack the $2.3 trillion bill’s passage last week before the president shifted gears and decided to sign it anyway Sunday night.
“I’m really delighted that the President signed the COVID bill into law Sunday night,” Perdue told anchor Sandra Smith. “I spoke with him many times over the weekend, over the holiday. He was very concerned about getting this help to the American people.”
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The Georgia senator told Smith he was “very pleased” that 60% of the money was “reprogrammed money from the first CARES Act.”
“So when the President looked at this, he’s very concerned that we didn’t go far enough to bring enough help to help people in the back end of this COVID crisis,” he said before criticizing Democrats for “playing presidential politics” and stalling on negotiations before the election.
“I’m delighted to support the President in this $2000,” said Perdue. “It’s really a $1400 increment over what we’ve done, and I think with the vaccine coming, I think this is absolutely appropriate. So I fully support what the president is doing right now. It’s the right thing to do for people in Georgia.” (RELATED: Bernie Sanders To Filibuster Defense Bill Override Unless Senate Votes On $2,000 Checks)
While the $2,000 direct payment measure passed the Democratic-controlled House on Monday by a 275-134 margin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not scheduled a vote on the legislation.