Democrat-backed legislation spends $1.9T of taxpayer money on a so-called COVID relief bill that contains various provisions unrelated to the pandemic
WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Last year Congress passed five COVID relief bills with Republican input and support. Once President Biden stepped into office, House Democrats excluded Republicans from developing a bipartisan approach for this latest relief package,” said McKinley. “Instead, Democrats pushed forward a $1.9 trillion relief package filled with extraneous provisions unrelated to COVID.”
“Look Americans are hurting financially, emotionally, and spiritually from this relentless pandemic. If Congress had focused on providing targeted relief such as individual stimulus checks, funding for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution, funding for mental health and substance abuse services, and additional funding to help safely reopen America’s schools, it would have passed with broad Republican support,” added McKinley.
“However, this partisan package goes well beyond targeted relief: in fact, less than 9% of the total funding is directed to COVID and over a third of the funds ($670 billion) won’t be used until next year or later,” added McKinley. “During this year, schools will only receive 5% of the funds in this bill, childcare providers will only receive 19% of the funds in this bill, and states will only receive 5% of funds pledged for housing vouchers.”
“I could not support a bill that would present hardships to small businesses, non-profits, and churches by escalating the minimum wage and weigh taxpayers down paying for projects unrelated to COVID relief,” added McKinley.
Background
Below are some examples of the extraneous provisions included in this bill:
- Illegal immigrants would be able to receive stimulus checks and other benefits.
- Establishes a $15 federal minimum wage, resulting in a loss of 1.4 million jobs
- Establishes an “Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund,” which allows bureaucrats up to 15 weeks of paid leave and up to $1,400 a week
- $12 billion in foreign aid
- $50 million for EPA environmental justice grants
- $130 billion to schools, without any guarantee of in-person instruction
- Money for a bridge to Canada
- $112 million for a rail project in San Francisco
Original source can be found here.
