Ossoff: ‘$600 Is a Joke’ — ‘We Need Additional, Substantial, Direct COVID Relief’

Jon Ossoff, one of two Democratic candidates in the Georgia runoff U.S. Senate races next month, said Tuesday on MSNBC that the coronavirus relief and spending bill that Congress passed on Monday with a second round of $600 stimulus checks was “a joke.”

Ossoff called for “additional, substantial, direct COVID relief” spending in the new year.

Ossoff said, “I would have voted for the bill because people need help now. The bottom line is that $600 is a joke. It’s a joke. People have been waiting eight months for the United States Senate to act. Let’s be very clear — the House-passed substantial COVID relief back in the summer.”

“It’s Mitch McConnell and Republicans in the Senate and David Purdue, my opponent, who opposed even the first round of $1,200 checks, who have been holding this up for months and who cut the direct stimulus payments in half as we enter the holiday season with so many families having difficulty making rent, the car payment, affording prescriptions and putting food on the table. We need additional, substantial, direct COVID relief,” the Georgia Democratic hopeful added. “The only way we’ll get it is by winning these two races in Georgia.”

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