‘What I want is income, not one check…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and other top Republicans are reportedly pushing President Donald Trump to reject direct monetary payments to Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.
The proposal was included in the Senate GOP’s $1 trillion stimulus package. In a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, Graham reportedly fought the proposal, arguing “it won’t help the economy just throwing money at a problem.”
The Senate’s proposal now includes certain stipulations. The cash payments will reportedly be based on 2018 tax returns, and Americans making $75,000 or less will be eligible for $1,200 payments, with that number decreasing as the salary increases. Americans making more than $95,000 would not be eligible at all.
Regular payments for those who need it in the form of unemployment insurance would be far more useful than one-time payments to every American, Graham explained to his colleagues in a closed-door meeting, according to The Hill.
“I’d rather take that $250 billion and put it in a system that will give people sustainable income,” Graham said.
“Direct payments make sense when the economy is beginning to restart, [but it] makes no sense now because it’s just money,” he continued. “What I want is income, not one check. I want you to get a check you can count on every week, not one week. Here’s what I’m focused on: You have unemployment insurance that is totally inadequate, let’s beef it up.”
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, agreed with Graham’s assessment. He said a “blanket cash check to everybody” doesn’t make sense.
“I personally think that if we’re going to help people, we ought to direct the cash payments maybe as a supplement to unemployment not to the people that are still working every day, just a blanket cash check to everybody in America that making up to $75,000″ Shelby told reporters after the meeting.
“I don’t know the logic to that,” he said.