Richmond, VA — As Congress prepares to begin voting on President Biden’s COVID relief bill today, they’re hearing loud cheers from across the political spectrum in support of crucial cash payments to struggling Virginians — and crickets from Virginia Republicans too scared to speak out against such popular legislation. 

Virginia Republicans are poised to reject the most popular piece of major legislation in nearly 15 years, and vote to deny direct payments to their own constituents struggling through the pandemic. 

One of the most popular features of the American Rescue Plan is $1,400 stimulus checks, but despite bipartisan support, no Virginia Republican has spoken up in favor of this much-needed relief. The overwhelming majority of Americans, including more than half of Republican voters, support these checks. Yet GOP lawmakers plan to vote against them. 

Polling has shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans, including more than half of Republicans, support stimulus checks:

• New York Times:“In the SurveyMonkey poll, 4 in 5 respondents said it was important for the relief bill to include $1,400 direct checks, including nearly 7 in 10 Republicans.”
• New York Times: “The poll found that 78 percent of Americans supported the stimulus checks, including 90 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans — suggesting that Republicans in Congress who want to reduce the checks to $1,000 are out of step with their constituents on this issue.”
• Newsweek: “77 percent of respondents were in favor of sending $1,400 COVID-19 relief checks, including 61 percent of people who identified as Republican and 89 percent of people who identified as Democrat” 

Despite this clear level of support from their constituents, Virginia’s GOP Congressmen are staying silent. While they’re more than happy to spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, Reps. Good, Wittman, Griffith, and Cline are nowhere to be found when it comes to helping Virginians through a pandemic and economic crisis. 

“It’s clear that Virginia Republicans have no qualms about ignoring what the vast majority of the Commonwealth wants, but voting against this legislation would be a new low,” said DPVA Communications Director Grant Fox. “Make no mistake, voting against today’s bill is a vote against money in the pockets of Virginians at a time when it’s most desperately needed. Voters deserve answers about whether their representatives want to help jumpstart our economy or abandon struggling Virginians — and they’ll remember the answers next time they have to go vote.”

###