Senator Perdue Takes Extended Vacation As Key Pandemic Relief Set To Expire In December

Perdue has consistently fought against expanded unemployment benefits during the pandemic, calling relief “a hindrance”

ATLANTA — As key pandemic programs are set to expire in a little over a month, a new study revealed that more than 330,000 Georgia workers remain at risk of losing their unemployment benefits as the coronavirus crisis continues to surge –– prompting questions about whether Senator David Perdue and Republicans in Washington will stop playing politics and deliver on much-needed COVID relief for Georgia workers and families.

Yesterday, Perdue up and left Washington for an extended vacation while failing to make progress on COVID relief, yet the CARES Act programs, which provide financial support to Georgia workers as they suffer under Perdue’s failed handling of the crisis, are set to expire in December.

Senator Perdue has consistently fought against critical lifelines for hard-working Georgians, letting the $600 weekly emergency unemployment insurance relief expire on his watch and falsely claiming unemployment relief “keeps the economy from really growing.” Perdue once claimed he “personally opposed” critical direct economic relief for Georgians, yet when it came to his big corporate backers, Perdue assisted Republican efforts to jam through an aid bill that included a multi-billion dollar slush fund for big corporations with little accountability or independent oversight. 

Perdue’s opposition to much needed relief for out-of-work Georgians is clearly in keeping with what he “spent most of [his] career” doing — proudly outsourcing jobs and taking his own personal golden parachute. 

“Georgia workers are already suffering because of the failed leadership of Senator Perdue during this pandemic —the last thing they need is to lose even more essential relief because Perdue wants to play politics going into the January runoff,” said Braxton Brewington, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Perdue should do his job and demand Senate Republicans go back to Washington and protect Georgia workers and families during this crisis.”

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