United States Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn voted against a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, while new Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock voted in favor.
The full Senate voted in favor.
Senator Ossoff said, “This bill will provide thousands of dollars in direct economic relief for Georgia families, ensure every Georgian can get the COVID-19 vaccine for free, and send $4 billion to safely re-open Georgia’s schools. This is the most significant economic relief package for working- and middle-class families in American history. We will crush COVID-19, recover economically, safely re-open our schools, and get our daily lives back - and we’ll do it thanks to Georgia voters.”
Senator Hagerty called it "the Democrats’ hyper-partisan spending package disguised as COVID relief."
“This two trillion dollar pork-filled package is not targeted, not bipartisan, and not transparent," said Senator Hagerty. "It should have been crafted through regular order within Senate committees.
"With a trillion dollars still left to be spent from the last COVID package, the last thing Tennesseans deserve is to have their taxpayer dollars wasted, resulting in a sluggish economic recovery and crippling debt on our children and grandchildren.”
Senator Ossoff said the bill includes:
- $1,400 stimulus checks for individuals making up to $75,000 ($150,000 per household), with checks phasing out at $80,000 per individual ($160,000 per household)
- For the first time, adult dependents will also receive full $1,400 dependent checks
- The families of 1,042,000 Georgia children will now be eligible for additional relief of up to $3,000 per child ages 6 to 17 (and $3,600 for young children under the age of 6) through the expanded Child Tax Credit, lifting 171,000 children in Georgia out of poverty
- 572,000 childless workers in Georgia, including many frontline workers, will now be eligible for additional relief through the strengthened Earned Income Tax Credit — of which the maximum amount for workers without children is nearly tripled in this legislation
- $562 million in rental assistance for families
- $1.5 billion for child care assistance
- A $27 monthly increase in nutrition assistance for approximately 1,875,000 Georgians
SUPPORT FOR STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
- $8.1 billion to the state of Georgia and direct funding for Georgia’s smaller cities, towns, and counties to help support first responders, vital public services, hospitals, and small businesses
COMBATTING COVID-19 ACROSS THE COUNTRY:
- $8.5 billion for rural hospitals
- $25.2 billion investment nationwide to address inequities in underserved communities and communities of color
- $47.8 billion for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing across the country
- $7.5 billion for vaccine administration and distribution
- $6.1 billion for vaccine and therapeutic development, manufacturing, and procurement
SAFELY RE-OPENING GEORGIA’S SCHOOLS:
- Over $4.5 billion in relief for K-12 schools in Georgia
- Over $27 million for Head Start in Georgia
- Over $249 million for E-Rate in Georgia
FUNDING GEORGIA’S TRANSIT SYSTEMS:
- Over $1.5 million for rural transit
- Over $395 million for the airport improvement program
- Urban Transit Funding:
- Albany: $1.5 million
- Athens-Clarke County: $7 million
- Atlanta: $308 million
- Augusta-Richmond County: $1.4 million
- Chattanooga: $11 million
- Columbus: $1.3 million
- Gainesville: $313,000
- Hinesville: $175,000
- Macon: $2 million
- Savannah: $12 million
- Rome: $924,000