Florida Democrats say they're feeling whiplash after President Donald Trump demanded approval of COVID-19 aid, and later halted negotiation on a comprehensive relief package. Now the president is taking to social media to call for relief through standalone bills.
In a tweet on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he would immediately sign a standalone bill approving another round of $1,200 stimulus checks. He's also called for assistance for airlines. But Florida Congressman Al Lawson says he's not sure the president is being genuine.
"We just never know what side of the bed the president [is] going to get up on," Lawson says.
Lawson says he thinks Trump's call to end negotiations on a comprehensive relief package until after the election was politically motivated:
"I think he's using this as an opportunity during elections because he's behind in the polls. And so, he's doing all this to gain visibility, and I can tell you that we are set and ready to go. Who wouldn't want to get stimulus dollars?"
But Leon County Republican Party Chairman Evan Power says he thinks Trump's decision was financially motivated.
"Nancy Pelosi has refused to negotiate in good faith. The Republicans are willing and able to provide relief, but she wants to hold it up and hold up the whole process in order to bail out poorly run states, and that's unacceptable. We can't spend those trillions of dollars," Power says.
Power says the standalone bills will cost less and still help the economy.
"One was a stimulus for $1200. One was to move CARES Act money that hadn't been spent into PPP loans, which will keep people employed. So, I think either of those options [is] great for hardworking American workers," Power says.
Meanwhile, many small business owners hope relief will come their way in the form of payroll protection dollars. The group, Small Business for America's Future, surveyed more than 1,500 small business owners nationwide. More than 14% of them said their business wouldn't be able to survive past October if they don't get a second round of COVID-19 relief.
"So the implication of the president ending discussion over this economic relief is crazy. It's quite ludicrous," the group's co-chair Shaundell Newsome says.
Newsome is the founder of a marketing firm his family now runs. He doesn't like the idea of splitting up coronavirus relief because he wants to make sure his business and his employees get the support they need.
"We want our employees to receive just as much relief as we do. So, the stimulus money that goes to these individuals that should be something they receive as well because they've suffered through this just as much as we have, and we sit in the same room and live in the same neighborhood as the people we employ," Newsome says.
