Disappointing Covid Relief Package

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep disappointment on the bloated, partisan bill that my colleagues are calling a COVID relief package.

That is the name on the bill, but the reality is far from it. The reality is that we just passed a $900 billion package in December. The package wasn't perfect, but it was bipartisan. This one is not.

The reality is that hundreds of billions of dollars remain unspent. As of last week, there were unofficial estimates of unspent or non- disbursed relief that included $183 billion for another round of PPP; $199 billion for healthcare; $136 billion for expanded unemployment insurance; and $46 billion for direct stimulus payments. That is money we still have, unspent.

The reality is that this administration can't or won't even give Congress an honest estimate of where that money is and what they will do with trillions more.

The reality is that this bill is not for emergency relief, but for leftwing spending programs years from now. Nearly half of the funds under this bill won't be spent until 2022.

There are billions of dollars for State and local governments, mostly to blue States that impose costly lockdowns, even though California is reporting a $10 billion surplus; billions to bail out multiemployer pension plans; billions for subsidies to cover the cost of rising ObamaCare premiums; and a massive expansion of Medicaid with no reforms to address waste, fraud, and abuse within the program.

Meanwhile, a mere 1 percent of this is for vaccine distribution. Really? Maybe that is, perhaps, because the Trump administration, indeed, did have a plan for vaccine distribution. I don't know.

Of the billions they provide for schools, less than 5 percent will be spent this fiscal year with zero requirements to get kids back in the classroom.

The reality is that some provisions, like a $15 minimum wage will only hurt the small businesses that Democrats claim they want to help. Many in my district have already told me they are going to lay off workers or shut down.

So I say this to my colleagues who seem to believe that the size of their heart is correlated to how much taxpayer money they are willing to spend: This is not how you help. This is not how you govern responsibly. This is not a contest to see how much debt we can rack up for whatever constituency or special interest you favor at the moment.

Americans don't want handouts. They want a vaccine. They want their businesses open. They want their kids back in school because they know it is safe, despite what the teachers' unions are saying. And they don't want to be told to wear three masks after they get a vaccine.

If you want to work with Republicans, assess what has been spent and what hasn't and focus on small business relief that increases jobs instead of killing them, then Republicans will be right there with you. Until then, expect some serious opposition.

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