By John Smist | December 30, 2020 at 10:56 PM EST – Updated December 30 at 11:58 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Financial help is making its way to millions of Americans in the form of a $600 COVID-19 stimulus check.
Representative David Rouzer voted against increasing the most recent round of stimulus checks from $600 to $2000. He voted “no” because he believes that the stimulus checks need to go to those Americans most affected by the pandemic.
“I would vote for a $2000 payment if in fact it was targeted to those who have lost their jobs or had their income reduced,” said Rouzer. “That’s the bottom line.”
After the new COVID-relief bill was approved, President Trump pushed to increase the checks to $2,000, but Representative Rouzer says that played no factor in his vote.
“Obviously, the President has had a little change of mind,” said Rouzer. “Everyone has the right to change their mind. But the fact of the matter is a family of four is going to get $2400 based on current law…based on the relief package that the president signed into law the other night. And it’s not targeted whatsoever. So, you’re going to have 100 million people out there get $2400, roughly, regardless if they lost any income or lost their job.”
As for the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, Rouzer says there is still so much we don’t know about the virus but hopes that the recent vaccines are a light at the end of the tunnel. But it will still take time to get everyone a vaccine who wants one.
“We have 330 million people in this country. You can’t go into the room and turn on the light switch and everyone have a vaccine,” said Rouzer. “There has to be phases and I think the administration and the CDC, in particular, have done a very good job in identifying who should receive the vaccine first. And eventually here, in a few months, everybody’s going to have the opportunity to get vaccinated…which again is a modern-day miracle.”
On the topic of the Presidential election and certification of the electoral college vote on January 6, Rouzer says he may join other republicans in objecting to the Electoral College results from several swing states.
To date, allegations of massive voting fraud have been refuted by numerous judges, state election officials and the U.S. Justice Department. But Rouzer says he still has questions.
“I think it’s highly likely that there was significant fraud,” said Rouzer. “I think it’s also likely it perhaps changed the outcome of the race in several states. The question becomes, what do we know? What type of hard proof do we have? And to this date, there hasn’t been anything that tells you directly yes, absolutely yes, there was a significant amount of fraud, which I believe there was.”
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