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Florida Republicans Voted To Reject Direct Payments For Their Constituents Even As Americans Broadly Support Relief Package
78% of Americans support additional stimulus checks, including 64% of Republicans
Today, the Florida Republican members of Congress voted to reject the most popular piece of major legislation in nearly 15 years and just denied direct payments to their own constituents who have been devastated by this pandemic. In response, Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Marcus Dixon released the following statement.
“Americans overwhelmingly support this COVID relief package because families are struggling and need help now. Unfortunately, Florida Republicans would rather play political games and spread conspiracy theories about the election than help the people they were elected to serve. Their vote against the American Rescue Plan was a vote against direct relief for working Floridians who have children to feed and bills to pay.
“Luckily we have Democratic leaders in the House who know how important direct payments, expanded unemployment, improved vaccine access, and small business relief are to our communities. Now we need Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio to step up and vote for what Floridians desperately need. Otherwise they, along with their colleagues in the House, will have to explain why families suffering from a public health and economic crisis, did not deserve direct relief. And, the next time Floridians go to the ballot box they will not forget who refused to help them in their time of need.”
BACKGROUND:
The overwhelming majority of Americans, including more than half of Republicans, support President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
- According to a new Morning Consult poll, 76 percent of Americans say they support President Biden’s stimulus package.
- That same poll shows that more than half of Republican voters support the plan. By a two-to-one margin, Republicans support the plan 60 percent to 30 percent.
A sizable number of Trump voters join a bipartisan majority of Americans in supporting President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
- McClatchy: “President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief bill is receiving overwhelming approval from swing voters, which include many of former President Donald Trump’s supporters.”
- New York Times: “Republican leaders in Washington firmly oppose the president’s stimulus plan, but a sizable number of Trump voters support it, interviews and polls show.”
The American people know what is in the American Rescue Plan and they overwhelmingly support key provisions of the package.
- Yahoo News/YouGov Poll: “The margins are decisive. The majority of Biden’s proposals garner at least twice as much support as opposition. Nearly half are favored by more than 60 percent of Americans.”
- According to a SurveyMonkey poll, the three key components in Biden’s proposed plan are all considered to be important by at least 80 percent of Americans.
- “In the SurveyMonkey poll, 4 in 5 Americans said it was important for the relief bill to include additional $1,400 direct checks, including nearly 7 in 10 Republicans.”
- “A similarly large group said it was important to include money for vaccine deployment.”
- A majority of Americans also consider money for schools and state and local governments to be “very important.”
- According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, the vast majority of Americans support additional $1,400 stimulus payments with 78 percent supporting and 18 percent opposing.