More Democrats are admitting that there is a waste of spending on the $ 1.9 trillion COVID relief bill passed by the Senate over the weekend. As we reported, only 9 percent of the legislation appears to be directed towards actual COVID health spending. The rest, as GOP leader Kevin McCarthy demonstrated, is saved for progressive special interests.
How else can you explain the $ 100 million saved for the San Francisco Bay Area rapid transit system?
Dear Democrats:
Stop calling it a “COVID Relief” plan. A better name would be “The payment for Pelosi”. pic.twitter.com/YLEwvbakJE
– Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) February 25, 2021
Increasingly, Democrats fail to explain this. In a debate with Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” on CNBC on Tuesday, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) actually agreed that there is “some waste” in the bill.
“There is some waste there, there is no doubt that there is some waste,” said Suozzi. He just disagreed about the amount of waste.
“It is less than $ 100 billion in waste, it is much less,” he said.
WATCH:
Democratic Congressman Tom Souzzi admits there is waste in the Democrats’ wish list project:
“There is some waste there, there is no doubt that there is some waste there.” pic.twitter.com/7TaTOc0ny8
– Mark Bednar (@MarkBednar) March 9, 2021
“I would have loved to see $ 1,400 stimulus checks targeted more at people and less money going to people who are actually working now,” added Suozzi.
He is not the only Democrat to have doubts about the bill. He’s not even the only New York Democrat. Congressman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) told CNN that “there will be a line that is likely to be somewhat embarrassing”. He said he “is not comfortable” with that.
Two House Democrats voted with Republicans against the American bailout plan, including Congressman Jared Golden (ME). He explained why.
“In times of challenge, the country needs its elected leaders to work together to meet the most urgent needs of their communities. This project addresses the urgent needs and then buries them under a mountain of unnecessary or premature spending,” said the Congressman in a statement. “When reviewing the bill in its entirety, less than 20 percent of total spending addresses the main challenges of COVID that are immediately urgent: funding for vaccine distribution and testing and federal emergency unemployment programs. I support these parties of the project wholeheartedly and I believe we should do more for the people most affected by the pandemic, continuing to extend unemployment programs until economic indicators show that they are no longer needed. ”
The House is going to vote on the Senate relief bill passed Wednesday morning.