Blackburn Blasts Proposal for $2,000 Trump Bucks: ‘Pathway’ to ‘Guaranteed Minimum Income’

Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn (TN) shredded a congressional plan that would authorize a $2,000 direct payment to most Americans, saying in an interview that it could lead to a “guaranteed minimum income.”

Speaking in a Monday appearance on Fox Business Network, Blackburn argued Democrats had rejected opportunities over the summer and autumn months to increase enhanced unemployment benefits by $300 weekly. “Now, we know that what the Democrats are trying to do with this is to put us on a pathway to a guaranteed the minimum income, which is one of their socialist agenda items,” she told host Gregg Jarrett, who was filling in for Lou Dobbs.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday ushered through an amendment to an economic stimulus proposal in Congress that would increase direct payments to many Americans from $600 to $2,000. President Donald Trump has called on Congress to pass the measure, but it is not clear whether Senate Republicans will comply with the request. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Tuesday proposed that his chamber unanimously consent to the House amendment, but the move was unsuccessful due to an objection from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Blackburn sought to justify her opposition by citing Trump’s criticism of other spending in the package.

“We also know that President Trump is frustrated, as am I, by a lot of the wasteful spending that is in the budget that was passed, the omnibus spending bill,” Blackburn said. “And I think it is just so insulting to American citizens that Nancy Pelosi even admitted — I mean, she came out and admitted that she had delayed getting this money to individuals through … unemployment insurance, because it benefited them politically to wait and do it until after the election.”

Watch above via Fox Business Network.