Ocasio-Cortez Slams Proposed $600 Stimulus Checks: ‘This Is Inhumane’

Congressional leaders are rushing to make a deal on a roughly $900 billion COVID-19 stimulus bill before the end of the year.

However, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is taking issue with the reports on a proposed new round of stimulus checks. She also noted that the proposal reportedly includes smaller enhanced unemployment benefits.

She wrote on Twitter, “The fact that Republicans are forcing Dems to choose between stimulus money OR unemployment benefits, as if we couldn’t easily do both, is barbaric. Do they know that people in red states are hungry too, or do they just not care?”

“This is inhumane,” she added.

She continued to accuse Congressional Republicans of blocking more direct payments and urged Republican voters to call their representatives.

And she created a poll to ask her followers if $600 is “enough.”

She said, “And if you don’t want your member to vote for a $600 deal, you really need to tell them that. Don’t think ‘oh I voted for a Dem, we’ll be fine.'”

“No. If there’s an amount that’s too little, or any other red line that you want them to vote NO on, then you need to tell them that,” she added.

The Washington Post reports that lawmakers are negotiating a roughly $900 billion relief bill that would provide money for vaccine distribution and small businesses.  The Post also reports the bill could include direct payments of $600-$700. However, the bill would include a lower federal supplemental unemployment insurance benefit of $300 per week.