Biden’s Final Pitch To Georgia: Vote Blue And $2,000 Checks Will ‘Go Out The Door Immediately’

Plus: Iran Issues Interpol Arrest Request For President Trump Over Top Military Assassination

TOPLINE

Georgians head to the polls to decide control of the Senate, President-elect Joe Biden sought to cast the election as a choice between immediate stimulus relief or months of gridlock, promising that victory by Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff would mean $2,000 stimulus checks would be sent out “immediately.” 

KEY FACTS

Biden referenced $2000 stimulus checks three times during his short speech in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday, claiming the debate about direct payments isn’t some “abstract debate,” it’s about “real lives.”

If Georgians send Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler back to Washington, Biden said, “those checks will never get there.” 

Perdue and Loeffler joined Democrats and President Donald Trump in backing $2,000 direct payments last month, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked the effort, calling $2,000 payments “socialism for the rich.”

Warnock and Ossoff have also publicly backed $2,000 direct payments.

Congress passed $900 billion in stimulus aid last month that will send $600—not $2,000 or $1,200 provided by the CARES act—direct payments to Americans making $75,000 or less (payments phase out based on annual income, with a cutoff of $87,000.) 

KEY BACKGROUND

Victories by Warnock and Ossoff would make swift passage of another stimulus package far more likely because Democrats would then narrowly control the Senate (the breakdown would be 50 Democrats-50 Republicans, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking the tie), as well as the White House and the House of Representatives. If either Warnock or Ossoff lose, Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would have to work with McConnell for at least two more years.

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