Newt Gingrich: I would 'beg' McConnell to hold vote on $2,000 stimulus checks
Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich warned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he should hold a clean vote on a bill for $2,000 coronavirus stimulus checks or risk losing the crucial Georgia Senate runoffs.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to allow a vote on a clean bill for $2,000 stimulus checks or risk losing the all-important Georgia Senate runoffs, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Wednesday.
"The long-term control [of the Senate] lies in Georgia," Gingrich told "America's Newsroom." "Both Georgia senators have endorsed the $2,000 payment that President Trump has proposed and Mitch ought to bring it up in a clean vote."
Both Sens. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and David Perdue, R-Ga., have announced support for Trump's call to send $2,000 stimulus checks to most Americans, a significant increase over the $600 checks in the recently signed relief bill. Loeffler and Perdue are in tight runoff races in Georgia that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate for the next two years. In a political twist, Democrats in Congress are siding with Trump on the larger checks, as well as Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
MCCONNELL INTRODUCES HIS OWN BILL ON $2,000 STIMULUS CHECKS, OTHER TRUMP PRIORITIES
McConnell on Wednesday introduced his own version of a bill to increase the $600 stimulus checks from the coronavirus relief package to $2,000, but also included two other major priorities for Trump that are unlikely to pass as one large piece of legislation.
"I really am very worried that if he plays a clever parliamentary game, it may look good inside the Senate, but it could cost us two Senate seats and control of the Senate, so, I would beg him to bring up the $2,000 payment as a free-standing, independent vote," Gingrich said.
"Take it off the table as an issue," he added. "Frankly, Warnock and Ossoff could be in favor of the $2,000 and could attack Mitch McConnell for the next six days and I think it is very hard at that point to win the race. This is very straightforward. Once we get this solved, then it is a straightforward fight with two things. Turnout and making sure the ballot count is honest, and I think the Republicans have done a great job of developing the best grassroots Georgia has ever seen."
McConnell's legislation would also repeal Section 230, the controversial liability protection for online platforms, and create a committee on the Election Assistance Commission to study election integrity.
GEORGIA SENATE RUNOFF ENTERS FINAL SPRINT 1 WEEK FROM ELECTION, CAMPAIGNS BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS
McConnell set the table for a bill to address these three issues in his floor remarks Tuesday.
"During this process, the president highlighted three additional issues of national significance he would like to see Congress tackle together," McConnell said, before listing off the president's grievances about the amount of the stimulus payment, Section 230 and the election.
"Those are the three important subjects the president has linked together," McConnell said. "This week, the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The remarks were not a firm promise that any of these issues would receive a vote or that McConnell would push particularly hard for them. And McConnell's bill itself is unlikely to gain the support of the 60 senators that would be needed to break a filibuster. Some Republicans, especially the handful who have already said they favor $2,000 stimulus checks, would likely back the bill, but most Democrats probably will not vote for it due to the other issues McConnell's bill addresses.
Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
