Graham: Next Congress Should Vote on Stand-Alone Bill on Checks

A stand-alone vote on approving $2,000 coronavirus relief checks "might pass," but there is no way to get that vote before the next session of Congress starts on Jan. 3, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday. 

"I'd like a stand-alone vote in the new Congress on the $2,000 check," the South Carolina Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We have seven Republicans who have already said they would vote for it. We need five more."

However, he said he does agree with the need for a vote on repealing liability protections on big tech companies and for a commission to investigate the 2020 election.

"I'm urging Sen. (Mitch) Mcconnell to give a standalone vote in the new Congress after Jan. 3 on all three measures," said Graham. "I would predict that if you had a standalone vote on the $2,000 check, it's better than 50/50 it would pass."

Graham added that 70% of Republicans in the Senate don't want the checks to be increased to $2,000 each because doing so would bring a $430 billion cost to the Treasury, but he agrees with President Donald Trump that the extra money is needed. 

"They're not wrong to be concerned about the expense," he said, "but I've seen with my own eyes the destruction of small businesses in South Carolina ... I think a family of four, if they got $8,000, it would help our economy. I think they need the $8,000."

Meanwhile, if Georgia's Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler lose their races next week over the check impasse, the bill will seem "really cheap."

"If we lose the Senate, and (Democrats)  have control of the House and the Senate and the White House, they're going to send over a monster of a bill, and will make this bill look cheap," said Graham. "If we lose Georgia, everything goes by the wayside."

He added that it's important that Trump, while heading to Georgia to campaign for Perdue and Loeffler, tell his voters that the best revenge for the November election is to make sure the incumbent Republicans win. 

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