After Unnecessary Delay, Senate Republicans Finally Allow Vote on Emergency Coronavirus Relief

Senate Republicans’ delay held up measure including free coronavirus testing, paid sick leave, and nutrition assistance after the House moved quickly to pass relief late last week

ATLANTA — Today, Senate Republicans finally voted to pass the House’s bipartisan emergency aid package after it languished in the Senate for days while Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler followed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s lead and took the weekend off.

This crucial legislation enacts critical measures like free testing, paid emergency leave, and food assistance to help families cope with the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic — all provision that communities needed days ago.

But even after finally voting to let families access basic needed relief, Perdue and Loeffler are still refusing to commit to a guaranteed affordable vaccine for COVID-19 when available, nor have they disavowed the White House budget as the administration “doubled down” on a proposed 15% cut to the CDC’s already strained resources. 

And to make matters worse, Perdue and Loeffler still won’t back away from a Republican-backed lawsuit that would overturn the health care law, decimating critical protections for 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions and eliminating a key fund for the CDC. Perdue even went as far as to say he “of course” supports it.

“The passage of this emergency relief package was long overdue for Georgia families, but Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are still not fully backing needed measures to combat COVID-19,” said Alex Floyd, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Republicans’ reckless delay in passing this legislation and the refusal of Perdue and Loeffler to denounce proposed CDC budget cuts or support a guaranteed affordable vaccine puts communities at risk in this outbreak.”

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