Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the budget resolution.

The American people have suffered. They have suffered greatly from this pandemic, and this body has taken action to support those efforts.

It should be noted that Republicans have voiced support for targeting relief where it is needed. Mr. Speaker, we get it. We know there are still needs out there. We know there are still people hurting. We understand that, and we agree that we need to have targeted relief.

Thus far, Congress has passed nearly $4 trillion in COVID relief funding on everything from the PPP program to direct payments to money for testing and for vaccinations.

However, a significant amount of funding has yet to be utilized, with more than $1 trillion of available resources waiting on the sideline to be spent. Of that $1 trillion, there is $280 billion left in the PPP program, $239 billion in health spending, $172 billion in unemployment insurance assistance, and $58 billion in State and local aid, to name a few areas with leftover funding.

Now, we are discussing ramming through this budget resolution so that the Democrats can pass a $1.9 trillion COVID package without any bipartisan input or work. After weeks of talk of increasing bipartisanship and working together on big issues for our country, this resolution runs contrary to that. Not only does it do our budget process a disservice, but it moves forward with the idea that the bipartisan consensus of Congress should be cast aside.

As I said earlier, there is more than $1 trillion that has been passed in COVID relief that is just sitting there unused. Unfortunately, this budget resolution doesn't address that point or build upon that point.

For that reason, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution.

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