ATLANTA — The pandemic has impacted businesses of all sizes, even forcing some to shut down. Meanwhile, the Senate has been looking into the best ways to help and provide financial assistance during this unprecedented time.
Now, as Republican David Perdue is in a heated battle to keep his seat from Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, many are asking where he stands on issues.
11Alive's Verify team is looking into claims made against all four candidates in the Senate runoff race.
One of the claims made about Senator Perdue is that he blocked federal aid to small businesses when they needed it most.
Here's what we found when fact-checking the claim against David Perdue.
THE QUESTION:
Did Senator Perdue vote to block small business aid?
THE ANSWER:
No, this claim is false. Senator Perdue voted yes on the two bills that came up for an official vote involving small business aid during the pandemic.
SOURCES:
WHAT WE KNOW:
As of mid December, two bills made their way up to a Senate vote involving small business help during the pandemic.
First was the CARES Act from back in March, which stands for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The bill provided stimulus money to Americans and loans for small businesses, among other things.
Perdue voted yes on the CARES Act.
He touts the CARES Act as a way he helped small businesses during the pandemic, saying it "gave $14.5 billion to over 174,000 Georgia small businesses".
The second was the HEROES Act, which stands for Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, which would've provided a $3 trillion stimulus package in response to the pandemic. However, there was never an official vote in the Senate for the HEROES Act.
While Senator Perdue was officially against the HEROES Act, it's not accurate to say he "blocked it" because there was not an official vote.
There also was a GOP "skinny bill" pushed through in September. This one was a cut down version of the Heroes Act which Perdue.
Perdue's voting record shows he did support this version, which includes small business relief.
The latest $900 billion relief package put forward by Congress recently does include $284 billion in small business relief. That bill was initially stuck in limbo as President Trump criticized it for only providing $600 in individual stimulus checks as opposed to $2,000. However, it was signed by the president on Sunday evening.
While we wait to see how and when this bill will be enacted, we can say that so far, according to his voting record, Senator Perdue has not voted to block small business aid as the CARES Act and the GOP "skinny" bill provided that.