Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock \u2013 two Democrats elected in\u00a0Jan. 5 runoffs in what was once considered a Republican stronghold\u00a0\u2013\u00a0held a press conference hours after the Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package in a 50-49 vote that fell along party lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both senators made it clear that the package would likely have never come to pass without their upset victories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“This is the most significant economic relief package for working- and middle-class families in American history,” Ossoff told reporters after the vote. “We will crush COVID-19, recover economically, safely re-open our schools, and get our daily lives back \u2013 and we\u2019ll do it thanks to Georgia voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warnock agreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“There is no question that the people of Georgia deserve a great deal of credit for what happened here today,” he said. “We simply would not be here had they not stood up in such a profound way in this historic election.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013 Sarah Elbeshbishi<\/em><\/p>\n President Joe Biden praised the Senate’s passage of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan on Saturday, calling it “one more giant step forward”\u00a0on promises he made on the campaign trail to send aid to millions of Americans suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n “Today I can say we’ve taken one more giant step forward in delivering on the promise help is on\u00a0the way,” he said of his package that includes\u00a0$1,400 relief checks, an extension of federal unemployment benefits, and billions of dollars for vaccine development and distribution.<\/p>\n “The bottom line is this: this plan puts us on a path to beating this virus,”\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n Biden made an indirect reference to his predecessor President Donald Trump, saying passing the relief plan would show how he was “going to get the government out of the business of battling on Twitter and back in the business of delivering for the American people.”<\/p>\n He congratulated Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for shepherding the bill through the Senate. The chamber worked for more than\u00a027\u00a0straight hours as it made its final deliberations on the package.<\/p>\n “I\u2019ve never seen anyone work as skillfully, as ably, as patiently with determination to deliver such a consequential piece of legislation,”\u00a0Biden said.<\/p>\n The president had been in touch with several Democratic senators throughout the process.<\/p>\n Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a longtime Biden confidante, told reporters Saturday morning he had spoken to Biden, who had told him he was “really glad”\u00a0the bill passed. The president had been in touch with Schumer with “some frequency”\u00a0through the whole process, Coons said.<\/p>\n‘One more giant step forward\u2019: President Biden praises passage of COVID plan<\/h2>\n