Senator David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler let Georgia families, workers and small businesses go months without relief and were absent from the last week of negotiations on the agreement – which still falls short of what is needed thanks to Republicans in the Senate.
Since much of the federal emergency unemployment aid expired in July, Senate Republicans including Perdue and Loeffler have refused to negotiate on a serious plan that could pass Congress and repeatedly stood against extending emergency relief that so many Georgians have relied on to meet basic needs. Ultra-wealthy former corporate CEO Perdue called emergency unemployment benefits “a hindrance” and “personally opposed” direct stimulus checks for hardworking families, while Loeffler – the richest member of Congress – said she didn’t see “a big need to extend the federal unemployment insurance.”
Senators Perdue and Loeffler and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are still standing in the way of $1,200 relief checks, insisting on lower emergency unemployment benefits, and blocking critical funding for state and local governments from being included in this relief package. Last week, McConnell admitted Republicans’ monthslong block on aid had become a liability in their campaigns when he said that “Kelly and David are getting hammered.”
“Senators Loeffler and Perdue were quick to act when it came to protecting their stock portfolios during the pandemic but opposed stimulus checks and emergency unemployment relief and then failed to act for months on the relief that Georgians need,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “These are two of the most self-interested and corrupt Senators in Washington who always put themselves first, and that is why they will lose in January.”
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