National Review
Why six Senate Republicans voted against the COVID relief bill
Congress passed a $ 900 billion coronavirus relief package on Monday night after months of political stalemate, with the Senate voting almost unanimously in favor of the measure, except for six Republican senators. The 5,593-page bill was approved by the House 359-53 before it was passed by Senate 92-6. The six votes against the measure came from Republican senators Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Rand Paul (Ky.) Rick Scott (Florida), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Ted Cruz (Texas). six senators were mostly critical of the bill’s financial and physical scale. Paulo called the project a “monstrosity of spending”, saying that “so-called conservatives” who vote for the measure would be no better than socialist democrats. “When you vote to pass without free money, you lose your soul and forever abandon any appearance of moral or fiscal integrity,” he said. Instead, he supported opening the economy and cutting unnecessary spending on the budget in order to stop creating additional debt for future generations. Johnson similarly said in a statement that the government “does not have an unlimited current account.” “We must spend federal dollars – money that we are borrowing from future generations – with more be careful and put limits on how much we are mortgaging our children’s future. ” He clarified while he supported the comprehensive CARES Act in the spring, since rapid and massive action was needed to “prevent an economic collapse” that this time he wanted to take a more targeted approach; In September, he proposed a bill $ 600 billion less relief. Scott also pressed against the “huge spending bill that mortgages the future of our children and grandchildren.”> We must help Americans and small businesses in need, but we cannot continue to operate that way Again, in the classic Washington style, vital programs are associated with a huge spending account that mortgages the future of our children and grandchildren, so I can’t support this bill. Pic.twitter.com/poShVDXzHb >> – Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) December 21, 2020 He said in a tweet that he would not support the bill, adding in a statement that “Washington does not seem to understand that today’s new spending will be paid for by the increase federal debt and result in an increase in taxes for households in the future. “” The easy way is to simply move on as Congress continues to harm future generations of Americans, but I will not be part of that, “he said. However, Johnson said that while he was” happy that a government shutdown has been avoided and that financial relief will finally reach many who really need it, “he criticized the” dysfunction “of the process.” Washington, DC’s dysfunction was on full display when Congress combined greedy relief with a huge three-month spending bill past the deadline and the current fiscal year, “Johnson said.” This monstrosity was 5,593 pages long and only nine hours after the Senate first saw it. “” I just couldn’t support this dysfunction, so I voted no, “he said. Ruz and Lee also opposed lawmakers who were only given hours to read several thousand pages of legislation. In response to a tweet from Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., NY), in which the progressive legislator regretted having to vote on the bill without having adequate time to review it, Cruz agreed that the process is “absurd”. ” It is ABSURD to have a $ 2.5 trillion bill negotiated in secret and then – hours later – demand a vote up or down on a bill that no one has had time to read, “tweeted Cruz.>. @AOC is right. >> IT’S ABSURD to have a project of $ 2.5 trillion law negotiated in secret and then – hours later – demand a favorable or negative vote on a bill that no one had time to read. CongressIsBroken https://t.co/EQp8BfRBHj >> – Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 21, 2020Lee echoed these criticisms, posting a video on Twitter in which he showed how long it took just to print the project: three minutes for just the first 100 pages of the huge bill. “Because of its size, it is impossible for anyone to have the opportunity to read it until we vote,” Lee said in the video. “And I am absolutely certain that this has been patched up by a small handful of members of Congress and their teams and to the exclusion of 98% of members of Congress from both political parties in both houses.” “This process, by which members of Congress are asked to blindly give in to legislation negotiated entirely in secret by four of their colleagues, must come to an end,” he said.> 1/4 This is the bill being examined today in Congress. I received it a few moments ago and will probably have to vote for it at the end of the night. It has 5,593 pages. I know there are some good things about that. I am equally confident that there are bad things about him. pic.twitter.com/SoWXnEWYfV >> – Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) December 21, 2020Cruz and Blackburn also criticized some of the funding areas that reached the $ 1.4 trillion spending account with which relief legislation COVID has been grouped. Cruz said the bill “advances the interests of the radical left, special interests and swamp lobbyists, with funding going to expand authority for more H-2B visas for foreign workers, while an almost record number of Americans remain unemployed.[.]”It also sets the stage” for Democrats to implement the ‘New Green Deal’, citing the ‘need’ to meet energy demand in the United States through clean, renewable or zero-emission energy sources, ” he said. While Blackburn acknowledged that the legislation had a number of positive aspects, including vaccine development and distribution, assisting schools and helping small businesses, she said the cost was too high and included a number of measures she could not support. “I can’t support it. support about $ 2.4 trillion in spending that will make recovery even more difficult, “she said in a statement.” I have serious concerns about the provisions buried in the 5,593-page bill, such as expanded visas, Pell grants for prisoners and families with illegal aliens receiving payments of economic impact. For these reasons, I voted not to approve this legislation ”.