Under Pressure, Perdue And Loeffler Declare Support For $2,000 Relief Checks

President Donald Trump’s call to more than triple pandemic cash relief for individual Americans has scrambled political calculations made by Georgia’s two Republican senators in the closing week of their high-stakes runoff campaign.

Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler belatedly declared their support on Tuesday for one-time payments of $2,000 that Trump and Democrats endorse but most congressional Republicans oppose. The move came only after the two Georgians sidestepped the matter for days while celebrating the passage of a long-sought aid package that included smaller $600 payments.

Now, to maintain their alliance with the mercurial president, the senators also find themselves aligned with the very Democratic congressional forces they caricature as socialists who’d tax-and-spend the nation into bankruptcy if the Georgia contests go against the Republicans.