According to a new report, the federal government sent $783.5 million in cash payments to 560,000 incarcerated individuals as part of the American Rescue Plan, which every Senate Democrat voted for.
Not only that – during Senate debate of this legislation earlier this year, a provision to bar cash payments to prisoners was voted down by every single Senate Democrat – including vulnerable Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).
Now, these vulnerable Democratic Senators will be left to explain why they think it’s acceptable to send boatloads of cash to the incarcerated while American families and small businesses struggle.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said it best: “Sending cash to murderers and rapists in prison has nothing to do with solving the pandemic or improving the economy. Now, the same people who sent hundreds of millions of dollars as gifts to these inmates want to spend trillions more in an even bigger and more partisan bill.”
Thoughts, Senators?