i am fighting senate democrats are
fighting
for two thousand dollars per person when
it comes to the two thousand dollar
checks it's
it's important to remember that the six
hundred dollars is not for family it's
per individual and per
child someone's got to show me how we're
going to pay for it i mean how far
before
we ultimately go into debilitating
insolvency and bankruptcy that's going
to do great damage to our country
suddenly the deficit hawks seem to have
returned well they certainly were not
there back in 2017
when the republicans supported a
trillion and a half dollar tax cut
almost all of which 80 percent well to
the super wealthy and big corporations
well the president signed the covert
relief uh the stimulus and the funding
for the government
but said he wanted two thousand dollars
going to every family the house
the top of this hour just voted 275 to
134
to do that now the senate will take up
that two thousand dollar per
person making seventy five thousand
dollars or less tomorrow
and democrats are jumping on this
president trump changed his mind and
supports this legislation that's why
we acted we would have included much
larger payments in the legislation had
he spoken up sooner
but it's never too late to do the right
thing president trump stood up
we support this legislation democrat
from michigan there let's bring in our
panel byron york chief political
correspondent of the washington examiner
former tennessee congressman harold ford
jr and washington post columnist
mark thiessen mark there are a lot of
republicans particularly on the senate
side
who may be put in a box here in an
uncomfortable box
and perhaps the biggest two will be
running for georgia
for senate in january fifth in that
runoff david perdue and kelly lefler
no doubt i mean they're the the senate
is not going to approve two thousand
dollar payments
uh to the american people uh because
it's not targeted
uh to people who are struggling or who
are having trouble that's what the
unemployment increase is for and the
other uh
paycheck protection aid is for um but
they're uh but
trump has put them in a box and
basically this this has helped nobody
uh on the republican side it's me it's
gonna put those republicans as you say
in a box
it's making him look like a lame duck
because he can't get it passed
and he he he's taken you know he's he's
taken what should have been a victory
and turned it into a defeat
there the democrats been blocking this
legislation since july
and the reason was they didn't want to
give donald trump credit well now that
it's finally passed instead of taking
credit
he he makes americans go through
christmas with
wondering whether the aid that's
expiring is going to be there for them
he he he puts the republicans in the
position of
potentially having to override his veto
on this and be a
crosswise of the president and he's
given pelosi and schumer a cudgel to
beat them up saying trump supports 2000
checks why don't you
uh so it's just a disaster all the way
around
yeah and you don't you're not alone in
sharing that uh the front page of the
new york post
the opinion section of the post which
endorsed president trump
uh had this as the front cover today
stopped the incentive
mr president stop the insanity you lost
the election here's how to save your
legacy
uh byron where do you think the end
gamut
is here he's going down to georgia the
president is in two different places
to try to rally republicans down there
dalton and valdosta that have seen
early voting less than they thought it
was going to be for republicans
but he is really focused still on
january 6th and what happens about
the final stand to try to save his
presidency
he said a lot more about january 6th
than he has about january
uh the fifth he you know the president
obviously is a big supporter of
in-person
election day voting and not going down
there uh for the second time
until uh january 4th is all about
getting republicans to turn up at the
polls
in person uh on election day uh
you know this whole idea of the january
6th thing where republicans in the house
are going to protest uh the ratification
of the electoral college results
democrats actually
did that in 2001 in 2005
and in 2017 didn't work in it for any of
them
and it's not going to work uh for the
president so
he wants to have i think a large crowd
of his supporters in washington
but the fact is what happens in the
house chamber is
that the election of joe biden in the
electoral college
will be certified yeah
and it will be i mean there's not we
don't see any surprises
predict any we will follow every aspect
of that
and all sides um back to the payment and
the money distribution
harold the two thousand dollar check
here is senator pat toomey over the
weekend about
where this is coming from and the senate
minority leader
this money isn't sitting on a shelf
we're going to print it or we're going
to borrow it
and i think that the age should be much
much more targeted it should be targeted
to people who've actually lost their job
small businesses that are actually in
danger of going under it's up to the
senate
every senate democrat is for it
but unfortunately we don't have the
republicans on board
today i am telling donald trump don't
just talk about it
act these senate republicans have
followed you
through thick and thin get them now to
act
and support the two thousand dollar
checks
i understand the criticism of
republicans who've lost their gumption
to fight over the deficit and debt
it stands the debt at 27 trillion
dollars eventually we
as a country are going to have to deal
with that but neither party has wanted
to
uh is this not the time harold
well happy holidays to all and glad to
be with you again
i would say this is probably not the
right time to be focusing on
uh the kinds of things that politicians
now want to conveniently focus on
give millions of americans who stood in
line for food between thanksgiving and
christmas
millions not thousands but millions i i
know senator toomey and i actually like
him but
he has to realize that this is targeted
and mark was my friend this is target
it's up to 75
000 per individual that doesn't mean
that everyone earning 74
999 or receiving uh this money
that means that millions of americans
earning 20 and 30 and 40 and 50
000 a year who since march have gotten
one payment
yet we have seen a number of incredible
things done to help big business in the
country and i don't bemoan them
but at the same time we shouldn't
disadvantage and discriminate against
main street in the country
so i hope republicans democrats alike
and there's blame to go around byron's
right both parties
share some of the blame but for
president trump at this hour to say now
that he wishes the
payments to families were raised to two
thousand dollars or individuals to two
thousand excuse me
when he had that opportunity before i
think it does one thing and one thing
only politically it confuses republicans
in georgia
which certainly advantages democrats
heading into
uh that all-important runoff in early
january yeah i mean let's remember his
treasury secretary was involved in
every conversation for months treasury
secretary steven mnuchin
and called the deal a very good deal at
600
a person payout before the president
decided that the number was 2 000.
mark uh just moments ago the house now
has
enough votes to override the veto of the
national defense
authorization act that's two-thirds as
you take a look live here
this is going to be a big veto override
it's going to happen likely in the
senate as well what does this mean
and again we put it through the prism of
the georgia runoff because
january 5th is just around the corner
yeah well georgia is a is a very
military heavy state
the defense authorization act has been
passed uh for 50 and and signed into law
for 59 straight years until now
and now kelly lefler and uh and uh and
purdue
uh they have to decide do i vote against
a three percent pay raise for
georgia military georgia citizens who
are in the military
or do i vote to overturn the president
and turn off the the
the trump base for bucking bucking the
president again he's hurting his party
by
by doing these insane things and
finally just pushing back on on what
harold said about the payments
if you're making seventy five thousand
dollars a year and you haven't lost your
job you don't need a two thousand dollar
payment from the u.s government
from your neighbors uh this this is not
targeted there's lots more target ways
to get help to people
two thousand dollar payment to anyone
making seventy five thousand dollars or
less is not the way to do it
let me try on record just saying this i
don't mind if someone's making seventy
four thousand dollars a year and they
get away with an additional two thousand
dollars
in light of the run-up in the stock
market and a lot of the run-up for the
wealthiest in the country
i have no issue with that but i can
assure you this is targeted and every
one of those families
needs every bit of these dollars not
targeted to people who are hurting from
the
from covet there you go this is the
debate
that is in both chambers thank you
gentlemen