Without need for hyperbole, Biden emphasizes the importance of voting blue in Georgia to real world problems
As the minutes wind down until the critically important senate runoff elections in Georgia, President-elect Joe Biden said that, if the two Democratic senators are elected, Americans will receive $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks, and implied it could happen very soon:
‘By electing John and the Reverend, you can make an immediate difference in your own lives, the lives of people all across this country, because their election will put an end to the block in Washington of that $2,000 stimulus check, that money that will go out the door immediately to help people who are in real trouble.’
President-elect Joe Biden
What he is referring to, of course, is that fact that while congress passed the higher dollar amount for the stimulus checks, once the bill got to the senate, currently controlled by the Republicans and Mitch McConnell, the proposed increase was blocked and the previous bill was maintained reducing the checks back to the original $600 figure.
This transpired, in spite of the fact that Trump, in his usual confused and chaotic style, pressured his own party, over whom he supposedly has absolute power, to vote for the higher amount, and therefore they were forced to defy him in order to block the passage of the higher amount.
It is unclear if this was some kind of reckless ploy, perhaps an attempt by Trump to make himself seem like the “good guy”, and to force the senate to look bad in comparison, including, for example high profile senators that might, in the future, want to run against him, assuming he is even eligible to run. As has been seen lately (and for a long time before that) anything is possible regarding his motives.
What Biden is saying, though possibly a bit exaggerated regarding the timing, is nevertheless correct, that with a victory by both Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock the senate would be evenly split with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. In that scenario, the vice president, who will be Kamala Harris once she and Biden are sworn-in, will be able to cast any tie-breaking vote as needed, giving the Democrats the narrowest of margins, but enough to push through the stimulus checks and, potentially, the first order of business for the new administration.
Later in the appearance President-elect Joe Biden reiterated:
[CHEERING]
“And that’s not an exaggeration. That is a literal– that’s literally true. If you send John and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency and honor for so many people who are struggling right now. 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.”
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN
Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.
Find books on Politics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org
Enjoy Lynxotic at Apple News on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Lynxotic may receive a small commission based on any purchases made by following links from this page.
