- Senator Mitt Romney criticized Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan at a New York Times DealBook event.
- Romney said the bill designates too much aid for states with budget surpluses.
- The senator also criticized the bill as a “clunker” in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.
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Senator Mitt Romney of Utah sharply criticized President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion economic relief as excessive, wasteful and non-bipartisan during a New York Times DealBook Policy Project conference late on Tuesday.
“There is not much going on behind the scenes involving Republicans,” Romney told Andrew Ross Sorkin of The Times. “I think the Democratic leadership has determined that they want to carry out the plan without any changes to it, and without any contribution from the Republicans and because it will be done through budgetary reconciliation, they don’t need any of our votes. “
Through budgetary reconciliation, the Senate can pass budget-related legislation with only a simple majority of 51 votes, instead of the usual 60-vote majority required in the Senate to overcome obstruction.
“I think it’s a very problematic account, not so much because of the price, which is quite substantial, but because there are so many things there that are just wasteful. I wish we could use the money that we’re going to borrow from China to really do things that will make a difference, “said Romney.
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal also published on Tuesday, Romney called the bill “a jalopy” that, in his opinion, is “full of bad policies and sloppy math”.
In particular, Romney said that much of the $ 350 billion in aid allocated in the bill for states that currently experience budgetary surpluses could be better used.
“Most of our states have not had a bad couple of years. Most of our states are doing very well. Twenty-one states actually had their revenues increased during COVID,” said Romney, adding, “California has a record surplus, for example, but is scheduled to borrow $ 27 billion in money from the federal government. ”
Romney said he “brought a large map of the United States” to a meeting with Biden who “was color-coded for each state’s economic conditions” to try to convey his concerns to the White House.
“He didn’t have an answer for that,” said Romney. “He found my graph, I hope, interesting, and he and the vice president looked at it. But I indicated that we are shipping to a lot of states that don’t need it.”
The Senate is currently split between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tiebreaker vote.
Romney warned that reconciliation is a double-edged sword for Democrats.
“What goes around comes around. We will be in majority one day and we will probably carry out the same type of actions as they do, which is unfortunate ”, said Romney.
The Utah senator also opposes Democrats’ efforts to raise the federal minimum wage, which is currently $ 7.25 an hour, to $ 15 an hour through the stimulus package. Romney argues that the jump from $ 7.25 to $ 15 will be very expensive for small businesses.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that an increase to $ 15 an hour would cost 1.4 million jobs, but would help 900,000 Americans lift themselves out of poverty.
Ultimately, it is up to Senate MP, Elizabeth McDonough, to determine what can be included in a reconciliation package according to the parameters of Byrd’s rule, which states that issues “foreign” to the budget process cannot be passed through reconciliation. .
She is expected to issue her decision on the matter on Wednesday or Thursday, but even if she gives the green light to raising the $ 15 minimum wage on the bill, its inclusion could cost important votes that Democrats cannot lose.
Two leading moderate Senate Democrats, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, said they oppose increasing minimum anger through the reconciliation process, with Biden telling a group of governors in a recent call. not to count on a $ 15 hourly wage increase included in the package.
Romney and Republican Senator Tom Cotton introduced their own bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 10 an hour by 2025, requiring all employers to use E-Verify to avoid hiring undocumented immigrants and imposing more severe penalties employers who do so.