A leading Senate Republican is supporting President Trump’s call for Congress to fatten Americans’ coronavirus stimulus checks, calling it “reasonable demand.”
“I hope Congress is listening,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) tweeted Friday night, after spending part of Christmas with the president at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida golf club.
“I am convinced that he is more determined than ever to increase stimulus payments to $ 2,000 per person,” added Graham.
Trump has been lobbying Republicans this week after his last-minute rejection of the $ 900 billion aid package that Congress passed on Monday after months of delay.
His strong criticism of the $ 600 relief checks that Americans would receive under the plan created a stir in lawmakers when he left the measure, included in an unsigned $ 1.4 trillion government bill.
The House is expected to vote on independent legislation that will increase stimulus checks to $ 2,000 – but several Senate Republicans have signaled resistance to that idea.
“It took us a long time to get to where we are,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) On Thursday. “I think that reopening this project would be a mistake.”
But Trump continued to push, again hitting “the miserable $ 600 that is now in the account” in a Saturday Tweet.
Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia – who is in a tight second round on Jan. 5 – said on Wednesday that she would also consider Trump’s demand for greater stimulus “if it redirects unnecessary spending”.