Being in the midst of the deadly coronavirus pandemic is "like being in World War II" and Americans need the help that the $2,000 checks being sought by President Donald Trump will give them and it should be approved, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday.
"I'm the only speaker of the House in your lifetime who's balanced a federal budget for four straight years, so I believe in balanced budgets," Gingrich, a Fox News contributor, said on "Fox and Friends." "We have a disaster in this country made dramatically worse by Democratic governors in places like California, Illinois, New York, who have been crushing small business, killing the restaurant industry."
Gingrich also pointed out that the COVID funds are "not about deficit spending."
"That train is long gone," he said. "We're in the middle of a disaster. I think the average American deserves some help. The very rich have done obscenely well out of rising price stock values et cetera, the public employee unions have done absurdly well, not going to work while collecting full paychecks ... I would just say the average Republican when a big enough train comes through, it's just as well for you to throw yourself on the tracks and get run over."
He added that with Joe Biden as president, there will be "no economic growth" if he goes back to former President Barack Obama's failed policies.
"The only answer to the balanced budget is to have very dramatic levels of growth and underlying structural reforms," said Gingrich. "You're not going to get either of those in a Democratic presidency."
Also on Tuesday, Gingrich said he's got his doubts about the future of Georgia Democrat candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, considering their recent personal news. Warnock has come under fire after reports over domestic problems with his ex-wife, along with controversy over a Christian camp he ran several years ago, said Gingrich. Also, reports of Ossoff's connections with China are proving to be a problem.
However, he does not think that the president's push for the $2,000 stimulus checks will give GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue problems for supporting it.
"We are in a situation where the president's states have appealed to his own base," said Gingrich.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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