Rubio invokes unity in request for Biden to call for individual $2K checks

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged President-elect Joe Biden to appeal to national unity by pushing for $2,000 direct payments, which Biden is on record as supporting.

“It would send a powerful message to the American people if, on the first day of your presidency, you called on the House and Senate to send you legislation to increase the direct economic impact payments to Americans struggling due to the pandemic from $600 to $2,000,” Rubio wrote in the letter, obtained by Axios.

Rubio cited last Wednesday’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, which he called “one of the darkest days in our history,” and wrote that in the wake of the riot Americans are in search of “hope that political leaders in Washington can begin taking steps to heal our deeply divided nation.”

Biden previously backed President Trump’s call in December to send out the $2,000 direct payments.

After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked a measure to increase the payments from $600, Biden campaigned for Democratic candidates in the Georgia Senate runoffs by saying a Democratic victory would mean $2,000 checks. Both the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won their elections.

Rubio also urged the president-elect against including the checks in a broader relief package that includes other Democratic priorities.

“Please do not allow direct payments to the American people to get caught up in the normal political games by adding a wish list of far left or other unrelated priorities to this legislation,” he wrote.

Rubio was not among a handful of Republican senators who joined an objection to Biden’s victories in key states after the riot last week. His colleague, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), joined the objection to Pennsylvania’s results.