Biden Covid Bailout Package
Floor Speech
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Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, over the past year, the government has appropriated over $4 trillion--that is with a T--in COVID relief. Now we are standing here this week and we are debating whether or not to add another $2 trillion to that enormous total.
But what should shock taxpayers across the country is that $1 trillion of COVID relief still remains unspent. That means funding is still left over from last December and funding is still left over from even last March. Now, that is money that the current administration hasn't spent for vaccines, hasn't spent for testing, hasn't spent on schools reopening, and certainly not even to reopen our country.
Mr. Speaker, I think people in Washington often forget that the dollars that we are debating really aren't ours. They are the next generation's, and this money belongs to that generation and to the American people.
Is it not too much to ask what the current administration plans to do with the $1 trillion in unspent taxpayer funds, Mr. Speaker, especially before we toss another $2 trillion on to that pile?
This is a basic question that would come up during a family budget discussion with a lot less zeros, much less the Government of the United States talking about trillions of dollars.
But before and beyond the unspent funds, what the Democrat package does spend money on is yet another partisan wish list with about 9 percent of it actually going to COVID. Meaning 91 percent of it is not even COVID-related.
Mr. Speaker, this bill's minimum wage increase, for instance, would kill 1.4 million blue-collar jobs, and its unemployment insurance hike would keep incentivizing workers to stay at home, which is a real struggle in my district when an employer wants 2,000 people to come back to work and they are competing with the Federal Government. This makes it worse.
Under this bill, Mr. Speaker, stimulus checks would go to illegal immigrants. Under this bill, taxpayer funding for abortion is allowed, and Planned Parenthood is eligible for PPP loans. Under this bill, funding is allowed to flow to colleges and universities that partner with companies that are controlled by Communist China. Under this bill, $110 billion would be sent to schools, regardless if they reopen or not. There is no support for families who are desperate for educational options for their kids.
Obviously, of course, Democrats hid irrelevant spending in this bill, just like environmental justice grants, $800 million in aid to other countries, and a $112 million earmark for a big tech subway in Silicon Valley.
The bottom line, Mr. Speaker, is we are again debating a liberal wish list disguised as COVID relief. The American people aren't fooled by any of this. They see through the game, and they know that this town can and should do better.
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