U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez further fueled the divide in her own party as she urged her Twitter followers to complain to lawmakers if a $600 coronavirus relief check is not enough.
The New York Democrat published a poll on Wednesday that not only revealed how many Americans are willing to clamor for more government handouts, but also seemed to backfire as social media users demanded the economy be allowed to reopen.
Ocasio-Cortez thought she would gauge the temperature on the hot-button issue in her Twitter poll, as Congress continued to negotiate the latest $908 billion economic stimulus package. The new proposal apparently has only allotted $600 stimulus checks to help Americans, half of the amount in the relief package distributed earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Is $600 for a second COVID check enough?” Ocasio-Cortez asked on Twitter, with the options to answer “yes,” “no” or “hell no.”
Is $600 for a second COVID check enough?
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 16, 2020
Not surprisingly, some of the responses showed there were people who are still more than happy to collect a handout from the government, regardless of the long-term debt.
We need at least 2k a month retroactively
— Jeremiah Blankenship (@neverendingluau) December 17, 2020
Add an extra zero to that stack
— Razzball (@Razzball) December 16, 2020
Absolutely! So long as it’s the second of, like, 50 weekly installments
— Sam Eifling (@SamEifling) December 16, 2020
The poll ultimately seemed to deliver a strong opinion on how $600 was an insultingly small amount of money.
As of Thursday morning, only 5.2 percent of respondents had chosen “yes.” Another 33.2 percent had chosen “no” and a whopping 61.6 percent had voted “hell no.”
In a follow-up tweet, the progressive lawmaker urged Twitter users to call their representatives “if you have any doubt whatsoever on what their stance is.”
(FYI this is the current proposed COVID package amount – PLEASE CALL YOUR MEMBER if you have any doubt whatsoever on what their stance is)
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 16, 2020
“And if you don’t want your member to vote for a $600 deal, you really need to tell them that,” she added.
“Don’t think ‘oh I voted for a Dem, we’ll be fine,'” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “No. If there’s an amount that’s too little, or any other red line that you want them to vote NO on, then you need to tell them that.”
And if you don’t want your member to vote for a $600 deal, you really need to tell them that.
Don’t think “oh I voted for a Dem, we’ll be fine.”
No. If there’s an amount that’s too little, or any other red line that you want them to vote NO on, then you need to tell them that.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 16, 2020
Congress has until Friday to approve a relief package before leaving for the holiday break just as unemployment benefits issued from the early days of the pandemic will be expiring the day after Christmas. Ocasio-Cortez and others have been pushing for the larger stimulus checks–a sticking point in the negotiations that had stalled in Congress.
But the Democrat got an earful on Twitter following her poll, as many noted the temporary fix of an extra check from the government is not the answer.
How about the country just let business get back to business.
— Silence and Frost (@secjr112) December 17, 2020
Open The Economy NOW!
— Dr. Latina O’Crazio CornPop 🇺🇲 (@OcrazioCornPop) December 16, 2020
Just give everyone a million dollars.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) December 17, 2020
Open up America and they won’t NEED IT!!!
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) December 16, 2020
It should be zero because there should be no job-destroying lockdowns impeding peoples’ normal income.
— Styxhexenhammer666 (@Styx666Official) December 17, 2020
“Destroying the american economy 101”
— oguzhan guney (@oguzhanguney13) December 17, 2020
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