American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Mr. Speaker, rewards the political class, not the working class; that should be the name of this bailout plan.
When our Democrat colleagues got together to describe how to proceed on additional COVID-19 spending, they could have done a number of things.
They should have followed the bipartisan precedent set over the past year and worked across the aisle. Instead, they chose a purely partisan process to jam through a radical agenda, putting the political class ahead of America's working class.
They could have looked at the data coming out of the Congressional Budget Office. Had they done so, they would have seen that, absent any new funding, the economy is projected to reach prepandemic levels of real GDP growth by the middle of this year. Further, they would have seen that without this bailout, America is already projected to see its largest GDP growth in 15 years. Instead, they ignored the data, just like they have ignored the science. And they now hope that their bailout plan gets credit for an economic recovery that CBO tells us is already underway.
They could have accounted for the approximately $1 trillion in COVID- 19 money Congress already appropriated in a bipartisan approach but which has not been spent yet. Instead, they ignored calls to provide an accurate and thorough accounting of unspent funds. Now, they are charging American taxpayers another $2 trillion.
They could have focused on timely and targeted relief to support those that are most in need, to reopen schools in our communities and storefronts on Main Street, and to crush the virus and put shots in Americans' arms. Instead, less than 9 percent of this bailout goes to crushing the virus and dispensing vaccines. Only 5 percent of the K-12 education funding will be spent this year, even as Americans are told this money is needed to reopen their children's schools.
Of course, Democrat leaders are more than willing to spend hundreds of billions to bail out States, sending a disproportionate share of that money to those States run by their political buddies that will reward and incentivize further lockdowns.
Just look at how they changed the State funding formula. California, where revenues are, in fact, up, and they are sitting on a surplus of $10-plus billion, will now get billions more than they otherwise would have, a direct reward to the Speaker and Vice President's home State.
It was all so predictable, really. From the very beginning of this process, Republicans have been saying that this bailout was never about COVID relief but, rather, about Democrats trying to notch some wins for their political base, to appease their allies rather than help Americans.
Amazingly, Democrats are not even shy now about admitting that fact. The White House Chief of Staff has called this bill the ``most progressive domestic legislation in a generation.''
Leader Schumer, in the Senate, called it ``one of the most progressive pieces of legislation . . . in decades.''
We are here today, Mr. Speaker, because Democrats made a choice, a choice to put their own partisan political ambitions ahead of the needs of the working class, ahead of the needs of the American people. When our Democrat colleagues speak of unity, they mean keeping their party together, not pulling this country together.
That is why we have before us this wrong plan at the wrong time for so many wrong reasons.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from California. I will remind her that if this bill were enacted, her State's 6 million seniors would see a cut of Medicare of over $44 billion in the next 10 years.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Nevada. I will remind him that with this bill, if it is signed into law, his 500,000 seniors will face a $3 billion cut to Medicare. So his vote today will cost a $3 billion cut to the seniors of Nevada.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from South Carolina, and I will remind him that if this bill becomes law, the 1 million seniors in his State will face a $7 billion cut over the next 10 years to Medicare.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from California, and I will remind him that his State has 27 percent of the homeless population in the United States. But under this bill, the CBO projects that precisely zero dollars of the $5 billion will be spent this year. Wrong plan at the wrong time for so many wrong reasons.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that, under President Trump, we had the lowest poverty rate since 1959 in 2019. The lowest poverty rate since 1959 came under President Trump. Thank you to President Trump.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from Texas, and I will remind her that, while this legislation provides her State government with another $40 billion, it fails to include any language to ensure that the 5 million K-12 students in her State are back in open schools anytime soon, does nothing to open schools.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from New York, and I will remind him that, with passage of this bill, his State's 3 million seniors could see a cut to Medicare of $27 billion over the next 10 years.
I would also like to remind Mr. Jeffries that the CBO says that, without any additional stimulus, our economy later on in this year will be the highest GDP growth that we have seen in 15 years. So that help of extra government spending is not necessary to bail out your friends and allies who are in the Governor's mansion in New York or California.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman from New York, and I would like to remind her that, in her home State, she has 16 percent--16 percent--of the country's homeless population in the United States; but under this bailout, the CBO projects that precisely zero dollars--zero dollars--of the $5 billion that is in this bill will go to help the homeless population this coming year.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I just want to make sure. This Chamber may not have heard, but under the leadership of President Trump, in 2019, we hit the lowest poverty ever--lowest poverty. So thank you, President Trump.
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Mr. Speaker, there is this popular phrase that our Speaker is known for that we must pass the bill before we know what is in it. Well, the other side also said that you must poll the bill before the American people know what is in it. After they figure out what is in this bill, they won't like it.
We have looked at this bill. We have read it.
Less than 9 percent of all funding of this bill goes for healthcare spending to crush the virus and to put vaccinations in the arms of Americans. More than 20 percent of this bill goes to policies that harm jobs and reduce employment, and $36 billion will be cut from Medicare just next year alone because of this bill. Over $360 billion will be cut from seniors in 10 years because of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, when the facts are polled, the American people will know that this is a progressive wish list forced down by the Democratic Party.
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