Here (x) is an article about the GOP stimulus proposal, including a link to the full text of their proposed bill.
At the heart of the proposal is hundreds of billions of dollars directed toward "recovery rebates" of up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for couples beneath a certain income threshold.
In other words, means testing was in the GOP proposal.
Senior Republicans pushed back on the idea, arguing it would be more effective to use that money to support loans and grants to small businesses that keep their employees on the payroll and to boost funding for state unemployment systems.
Sen. Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said he didn't understand the logic of sending cash to people who have not lost their jobs."I personally think that if we're going to help people we should direct the cash payments maybe as a supplemental to unemployment, not to the people who are working every day, just a blank check to everybody in America making up to $75,000," Shelby said. "I don't see the logic of that."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina and ally of Trump, argued the direct payments might be better used later, once the virus is defeated and a stimulus might jump-start the economy.
"You can't stimulate something that's padlocked. Once the padlock is off, which is the virus, then we'll talk about stimulating the economy," he said. "People need income stability."
Graham explained why the loan program would be more effective. "If you got a bar that's closed, bar owner goes in and applies for a loan, which will become a grant most likely. And you have to use the money to pay payroll. The people never go into the unemployment insurance system. They get a check from their employer and when this is over they go right back to work. That is a good idea for some. And those that won't work for go to unemployment insurance," Graham said.
Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, said the loan program would have a "much bigger impact" than direct payments. "I think that has the greatest bang for the buck to be able to keep people employed. A one-time check that comes to someone is not as significant as knowing my job is going to be there," Lankford said.
A bunch of Republicans were against any payments at all.
So the reason people donât remember that is because @cookingwithroxyâ is, to be extremely charitable, themselves misremembering.
