GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler – who are running as loyal to Trump – praised the project, which they both voted for. Lose
launched ads the morning after the bill was passed telling Georgians that he “delivered” billions of dollars in assistance to Covid and direct checks to the needy, that his Democratic opponent, Jon Ossoff, is asking to be withdrawn, since Trump did not sign the legislation.
Instead, Trump continues to complain about the bill, creating uncertainty for the 12 million Americans on the verge of losing unemployment insurance. Perdue and Loeffler have yet to say whether they agree with the president, who asked for direct payments of $ 2,000 instead of $ 600 of the bill.
Perdue did not even respond to the president’s call for more checks, despite repeated investigations into his campaign and official office. Now Ossoff tries to pressure the senator to take a position. On Saturday, Ossoff’s campaign sent a letter to Atlanta TV stations asking them to withdraw Perdue’s ad promoting approval of the relief bill. Ossoff’s campaign argued that Perdue on the grounds that he “delivered relief” was “arguably false” as Trump did not sign the legislation. The Democrat said he supported the bill, but even before Trump’s request for a $ 2,000 increase in payments, he called the $ 600 figure a “joke”.
Perdue’s campaign did not answer CNN’s questions about the status of his ad on Saturday and they once again ignored questions about the senator’s position in Trump’s requests for changes to the bill.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Loeffler said he would be open to the idea of bigger checks, but argued that other parts of the package would have to be cut to accommodate expenses.
“I certainly support the redirection of any unnecessary spending to be directed to families and businesses that have been affected by this virus through no fault of their own,” said Loeffler.
Trump’s confused signals about the relief bill are just one example of how his erratic behavior during the last days of his presidency is disrupting the careful message that Republicans are trying to create as they struggle to keep these two seats and maintain control majority in the US Senate.
Trump last week vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act, which was the legislation that Loeffler and Perdue supported, establishing the first possible veto override of his presidency. Trump also continues to undermine the voting system in Georgia and relentlessly attack the Republican leaders who administered the state’s November elections, which he lost to President-elect Joe Biden. His rhetoric left the Republican Party in a difficult position to beg its supporters to vote in the two second rounds of January 5, while at the same time considering its unfounded claims that the voting system there is fraught with fraud.
