David Perdue’s Wish List: Block Stimulus Checks, Gut Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions, Put Social Security On Chopping Block

December 21, 2020

ATLANTA — Today, the Democratic Party of Georgia highlights the dangerous agenda Senator David Perdue has pushed in Washington, from making “suspicious” stock trades in industries he oversees to line his pockets to backing toxic tax breaks for corporate special interests.

Here’s Perdue’s holiday wish list of his priorities in Congress:

1. Block COVID relief and direct stimulus checks for Georgians

As the COVID-19 pandemic was first beginning to spread across the country, Perdue downplayed the threat of the virus and “fought against” direct stimulus checks for Georgians. Perdue said he “held [his] nose” to vote for economic relief and led the charge to cut unemployment benefits for families, doubling down on a debunked talking point claiming the $600 weekly emergency unemployment insurance relief, which expired after Senate Republicans spent months playing politics, was “the number one thing that keeps the economy from really growing.” Perdue said he “personally opposed” relief while he was working to profit off the pandemic with a series of shady stock trades.

2. Make more corrupt stock trades in industries he oversees to enrich himself

A brutal CNN analysis revealed that in just the five years Perdue has been in office, he’s conducted 2,560 stock trades –– more than “the next seven most prolific Senate stock traders combined,” suspiciously trading, buying and selling stock in industries his committees “directly oversee.” Local and national press have blasted Perdue for his “well-timed” stock acquisitions amid new questions that have arisen since federal investigators exposed Perdue for lying to Georgians about having personal discretion over his stock trades. 

3. Strip protections for Georgians with pre-existing conditions

While Perdue has been working overtime to “obscure [his] position on pre-existing conditions,” a PolitiFact fact-check deemed Perdue’s deceptive ads and his claims to support protecting pre-existing conditions coverage as “False,” adding Perdue’s “record on preexisting conditions doesn’t match his promises.” Perdue voted to allow the Trump administration to continue backing the GOP lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act and against protecting 1.8 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions, giving the Trump administration a green light to push for a court decision that would strip away Americans’ needed health care coverage. 

4. Put Social Security, Medicare on the chopping block

Perdue has led the charge against retirement security for hardworking Georgians, saying earned benefits like Social Security and Medicare are “the problem” and blamed vital programs like these for “causing this debt.” Just last year, Perdue renewed his push for Congress to overhaul its government funding process, introducing a bill he hoped would be “the first step toward tackling Social Security [and] Medicare.”  Perdue was even caught saying critical earned benefits programs like Social Security and Medicare have “failed…working men and women.”

5. Work to abolish the Department of Education

Perdue has said he viewed the Department of Education as an underperforming corporate division that should be “defunded,” and has even called to abolish the department entirely. Earlier this year, Perdue attempted to give Education Secretary Betsy DeVos control over $50 billion in federal relief grants, charging DeVos’ department with allocating $50 billion to schools “however DeVos sees fit.”

###

Other News from DPG

Questions? Tips? Call anytime.

Georgia Voter Protection Line

1-888-730-5816

Democratic Party of Georgia

Help us elect Democrats in Georgia.