Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott on federal coronavirus bill and SC: ‘Help is on the way’
South Carolina’s U.S. senators returned to the state Friday in the midst of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic with a message: Help is on the way.
U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, speaking at a press conference with Gov. Henry McMaster, touted the $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on the same day.
Between direct individual payments, loans to small businesses and aid for local governments, Graham and Scott said billions of dollars are coming to S.C. In particular, Graham called a $150 billion fund to boost state and local governments throughout the country a “godsend to the state of South Carolina to replenish the coffers.”
Every state, including South Carolina, will receive a minimum of $1.25 billion from that fund, Graham said, with further distribution still to be determined. And the majority of South Carolina’s 5 million residents will receive $1,200 or more.
“Everybody in South Carolina who makes under $75,000 a year will be getting $1,200 as an individual, $2,400 as a couple, $500 per child. That is a lot of money, but it will help keep the lights on and the refrigerator stocked,” Graham added. “If you’re on social security and you haven’t paid income taxes, you get a check. If you’re on disability and you don’t pay income taxes, you get a check. This money is coming. It’s going to take a couple of weeks, but it will be coming.”
This latest bill is the third and biggest piece of legislation from Congress related to the pandemic, and both Graham and Scott voted for it in a 96-0 vote in the Senate.
Graham on Friday, however, expressed concern about the country’s medial supply and how 90% of antibiotic components are made in China.
He also said the country has learned the testing system isn’t where it needs to be, forcing providers to prioritize who gets tested. He said the goal is to get the private sector to produce more tests.
“If you find yourself against the wall, medically, you don’t want to be dependent on other nations to give you your drugs,” Graham said during a Facebook Live discussion. “I think the medical supply chain should be considered critical infrastructure.”
He said there needs to be “carrots and sticks” to have pharmaceutical companies bring back production of medication to the U.S.
“We go to the medical companies and say ‘I understand you went to China because it’s cheaper but our country is at risk,’ ” Graham said at the news conference. “We are at war with this virus. There’s certain industries we have to control within the United States.”
But previously, both Scott and Graham, along with several other Republican senators, threatened to delay the passage of the bill over its provision that provides an additional $600 per week for four months in unemployment insurance. They argued that the amount would give people more off of unemployment than their usual jobs, discouraging them from returning to work once the coronavirus crisis passes.
Their amendment to cap unemployment benefits to 100% of a person’s salary before they were laid off was voted down, and they then voted in support of the bill anyway.
On Friday, Scott referenced the unemployment benefits while detailing the bill’s provisions to loan money to small businesses.
“The goal is to secure the relationship between employers and employees,” he said. “The best and most effective way for us to stymie the utilization of the unemployment system is to give an incentive to employers to maintain the healthy relationship for employees.”
Those small business loans, Scott and Graham said, would keep businesses afloat until the pandemic subsides.
“There are 1,700 restaurants in Myrtle Beach, virtually all of them are shut down,” Graham said. “And our goal is for them to be able to go to the bank, get a loan, keep their employees on the payroll, pay the rent, keep the lights on until this thing turns the corner.”
When exactly the virus will be controlled or contained remains unknown. President Trump has said he’d like to return people to work by Easter, but Graham claimed Friday that the president’s comments meant that he wanted to re-open the economy as soon as possible “based on sound science.” For his part, Graham expressed confidence that the summer heat would help against the virus, along with scientific advancements.
“Sooner rather than later we’re gonna have therapies ... drug therapies, that will whack the heck out of this virus, that will make it less lethal, that will take it from a 10 to one or two,” Graham said.
Graham has voted for all three major pieces of legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the earliest one, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, which sent $8.9 million directly to South Carolina.
Scott supported two of the coronavirus bills, but voted against the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, as did four other Republican congressmen — Jeff Duncan, Ralph Norman, Joe Wilson and William Timmons.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 4:56 PM.
