Supporters of President Donald Trump praised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Twitter Tuesday after the Republican introduced a new proposal to approve $2000 stimulus checks with additional measures that could kill the larger checks.
Conservatives had criticized Trump for allegedly siding with Democrats after the president signed the stimulus package on Sunday. Some MAGA supporters claimed that Trump had caved into pressure after he had initially suggested that he wouldn’t sign the package unless it removed “pork” spending for “wasteful” projects. Trump drew further conservative ire when he said that the package should include $2,000 checks for each American adult rather than the $600 allotted, something congressional Democrats had long sought.
On Tuesday, McConnell introduced his own proposal for $2,000 checks, adding in measures that would repeal Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act—a law shielding social media companies from liability for posts shared by users—and establish a commission to study voter fraud, fulfilling two long-time wishes of some Republican voters who believe that both social media companies and the election were biased against Trump.
If McConnell’s measure is passed by Senate Republicans, House Democrats could be forced to vote on the measure, and most are expected to vote against. Republicans could then claim that Democrats killed an effort to approve $2,000 checks along with GOP attempts to stem foreign disinformation by repealing Section 230 and safeguarding elections by establishing a voter fraud commission.
McConnell is facing a barrage of backlash from Democrats and Democratic voters on social media for blocking the $2,000 checks, but some MAGA supporters praised him for turning the stimulus cudgel on Democrats.