Loeffler, Perdue Called Out For Empty Political Stunt As They Refuse To Urge McConnell To Hold Clean Vote On $2,000 Relief Checks For Georgians

Days Before Runoff Election, Loeffler And Perdue Repeatedly Decline To Demand That McConnell Hold A Vote on Bipartisan, House-Passed Relief Legislation

Republican Strategist Admits: Loeffler And Perdue “Can Always Go Back On Their Word…On The Campaign Trail, They Have To Appear To Support This”

After opposing more direct relief for Georgians for months, Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue — two of Washington’s wealthiest senators –– “belatedly” caved yesterday and changed their position on adequate relief checks just days before the runoff election. But Loeffler and Perdue are now refusing to demand that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hold a clean vote on the bipartisan proposal for $2,000 relief checks approved by the House. Both campaigns have been dodging questions — repeatedly declining to say “whether they asked McConnell to allow an up-or-down vote” or “if they would leave the campaign trail and return to the Senate floor in Washington to vote if the proposal is considered this week.”

The GOP senators’ empty political posturing came after sustained public pressure from Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock and months of “getting hammered” on the campaign trail for delaying and blocking more direct economic relief. The reality is Loeffler and Perdue’s newfound stance is a politically calculated charade after being “less enthusiastic about direct individual support” for the past year. One Republican strategist even admitted that “when it comes down to actually voting on it, they can always go back on their word, they can do whatever they want…on the campaign trail, they have to appear to support this.”

Read more about Perdue and Loeffler’s empty political calculations:

Associated Press: Perdue, Loeffler find alliance with Democrats they attack

• President Donald Trump’s call to more than triple pandemic cash relief for individual Americans has scrambled political calculations made by Georgia’s two Republican senators in the closing week of their high-stakes runoff campaign.

• Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler belatedly declared their support on Tuesday for one-time payments of $2,000 that Trump and Democrats endorse but most congressional Republicans oppose. The move came only after the two Georgians sidestepped the matter for days while celebrating the passage of a long-sought aid package that included smaller $600 payments.

• Perdue’s and Loeffler’s campaign aides did not respond to Associated Press inquiries asking whether they asked McConnell to allow an up-or-down vote.

• At the least, the matter ensures Perdue and Loeffler will face uncomfortable questions Republicans thought they’d settled after Congress passed a $2.3 trillion pandemic relief and government financing measure after months of delay.

• Warnock reminded supporters that Loeffler and Perdue opposed more generous unemployment benefits earlier in the pandemic. Indeed, throughout the fall campaign and runoff blitz, the senators… have been less enthusiastic about direct individual support.

• “We don’t need incentives not to work,” Loeffler said over the summer, referring to increased unemployment insurance payments. “We need to get folks back to work. … We need to remove that incentive not to be at work.”

• Around the same time, Perdue told PBS Newshour that he supported a “targeted” payroll tax cut over “just a direct payment like we did in the first round” of relief in the spring. 

11Alive: Georgia’s GOP Senators announce support for $2,000 stimulus, drawing questions from Democratic challengers

• “Instead of campaigning around the state and standing in the way of putting more money in the pockets of Georgians impacted by this pandemic, Kelly Loeffler should be in Washington taking up this fight in the Senate,” Warnock wrote in a statement.

• “Let’s not forget that Sen. Perdue opposed even the first round of $1,200 checks, and he needs to join President Trump, President-elect Biden, and Democrats in supporting $2,000 relief payments right now,” Ossoff said.

• Perdue didn’t stop for questions following his own campaign stop in Butts County on Tuesday afternoon. His campaign hasn’t responded to 11Alive’s e-mailed questions about the stimulus increase proposal. 

• Republican strategist and 11Alive political analyst Mike Hassinger: “Now when it comes down to actually voting on it, they can always go back on their word, they can do whatever they want.”

• While Loeffler and Perdue on Tuesday said they support increasing stimulus payments, neither senator said publicly if they would leave the campaign trail and return to the Senate floor in Washington to vote if the proposal is considered this week. 

Kyung Lah: “Well Senator Perdue as you know did also fall in line, saying he was going to support whatever the president supports, including these $2,000 payments. When my colleague, D.J. Judd, tried to ask Senator Perdue to elaborate––was he going to go back to Washington to vote, was he going to ask the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring a vote to the floor, he just ducked. He didn’t want to say anything further than he wanted to do what the president is suggesting.”

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