Does this sound like COVID relief to you?
Friends,
$100 million for a subway in Silicon Valley.
$1.5 million for a bridge to Canada.
$50 million eligible to Planned Parenthood.
$1.5 billion for Amtrak.
Does this sound like COVID-19 relief to you? Well to Washington Democrats, that's exactly what it is.
Last week, Congress passed legislation labeled a ‘COVID-19 relief' bill. Unfortunately, it was almost everything but that. Just 1% of the bill is dedicated to vaccines and just 9% of the overall bill goes toward combating the virus. The unrelated pork projects listed above are just a fraction of what makes up the rest of the $1.9 trillion boondoggle.
Also included is $350 billion to bail out blue states like California, despite just announcing a $10 billion surplus. There is $86 billion to bail out union pensions and paid leave if your child's school is closed, but only for federal workers. The arts and humanities get $500 million. It also strips away pro-life protections that prevent tax dollars from funding abortions and includes $12 billion in foreign aid.
Furthermore, money for schools is not tied to them reopening. In fact, 95% of funding won't be spent until 2022 or later, failing to address the immediate need to reopen our schools. Because of these shortcomings, I introduced an amendment to increase vaccine funding by $2 billion, dedicating half of that to making doses available for teachers.
When I first introduced the amendment in the Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this month, Democrats on the Committee rejected it. Last week, I introduced it again in another opportunity to get it included in the final bill. Unfortunately, vaccines for teachers were rejected a second time. We must do better for you, your kids and every student across our country.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I have vowed to stay focused on addressing real needs like getting vaccines to our community and reopening schools. On these and other common-sense areas, I have remained willing and ready to work with the President and House Democrats. However, they wrote this bill in secret, never reached out, and rejected nearly every Republican attempt to amend this bill. I've said it before and I'll say it again- if anything in Washington should be bipartisan, responding to COVID-19 and rebuilding our economy should be at the top of the list. Unfortunately, this bill missed the mark while throwing our kids and grandkids further into debt.
With so many misplaced priorities, it's no wonder the bill was passed without a single Republican vote – a stark change from our bipartisan COVID response so far.
Working together, Congress has passed five bipartisan measures to combat COVID-19 totaling nearly $4 trillion. Currently, $1 trillion of that funding remains unspent for things like the Paycheck Protection Program, schools and health care. This yet-to-be-spent relief money makes it even more outrageous that Washington Democrats insisted on borrowing another $1.9 trillion last week.
Moving forward, we have to stop spending our way into oblivion and stay focused on identifying actual needs. In the meantime, I'll stay focused on common-sense solutions that address the challenges before us.
Until next week,
Richard Hudson
Member of Congress