Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Rejected the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed by Senate Democrats on Saturday, listing a number of convicted killers who would receive stimulus checks under the bill.
House Democrats plan to offer their final approval of the bill on Tuesday, before sending it to President Biden’s desk. The account includes $ 1,400 stimulus checks for individuals earning less than $ 75,000.
Prisoners are included among those receiving stimulus checks, just as they were in the two previous Covid relief accounts that offered checks for $ 1,200 and $ 600. Cotton voted for both projects.
Senators Bill Cassidy, R-La., Cotton and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, offered an amendment on Saturday to block prisoners’ checks. He failed in a party line vote, 49-50. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Argued that the prisoners’ children could be affected by the retention of their money.
“Prisoners have all their medical and life expenses paid by the taxpayer, they do not pay taxes, they do not contribute to the tax base, they cannot be unemployed. Inmates are not economically impacted by Covid, ”argued Cassidy. .
The IRS tried to withhold stimulus checks from incarcerated individuals, but a court forced its hand to offer the checks in October. There was nothing written in the two previous aid projects or the one approved on Saturday against prisoners who received checks.
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There are approximately 1.4 million in prisons across the country.
“Dylann Roof murdered nine people. He’s on federal death row,” wrote Cotton on Twitter. “He will receive a $ 1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats’ ‘COVID relief’ bill.
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, murdered three people and terrorized a city,” wrote Cotton in a separate tweet. “He will receive a $ 1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats’ ‘COVID relief’ bill.”
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“Aaron Shamo was sentenced to life in prison for selling” 1 million fake oxycodone pills with fentanyl to unsuspecting buyers, “Cotton wrote.”
After 27 hours of debate, delays and disputes, Democrats passed the legislation in a 50-49 party vote. The legislation now returns to the House for final approval before arriving at Biden’s desk for his signature on what would be his first major legislative victory.
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In addition to stimulus checks, the bill will extend unemployment benefits of $ 300 a week through September and will offer more food, childcare and rental assistance to struggling Americans.
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The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found this week that Biden’s coronavirus project would add $ 1.862 trillion to the national deficit in 10 years, with most of the new spending – $ 1.173 trillion – occurring in fiscal year 2021.
The federal government had an annual deficit of $ 3.1 trillion in fiscal 2020, more than triple the deficit the previous year, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The accumulated national debt is now $ 28 trillion.
Fox News’s Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.