- Republicans are promoting the benefits of the COVID-19 relief legislation that they opposed in Congress.
- Mitch McConnell said that the Republicans would have a “conversation” with the Americans about the issues of the project.
- Meanwhile, funding for health and restaurants is being praised by some members of the GOP.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
For months, Congressional Republicans unanimously opposed the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, the $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package that was supported by President Joe Biden and sanctioned in March.
The stimulus package, which included direct stimulus payments of $ 1,400 for individuals, financing for state and local governments, $ 300 in federal unemployment benefits through September, and an expansion of the child tax credit, among other measures, did not receive a GOP’s only vote of support in the House or Senate.
After the bill was passed, the Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky criticized the legislation as “a classic example of the Democratic exaggeration of the great government in the name of Covid’s relief” and “one of the worst pieces of legislation “that he saw in his 36 years in the Senate.
He also said that the Republican Party “would speak repeatedly” to the American public about the true content of the bill in the coming months.
However, some Republicans are now promoting popular elements of the bill they protested against on Capitol Hill.
Conservative Republican freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina pointed to health financing in your district in a tweet last week, including nearly $ 2.5 million for Appalachian Mountain Community Health Centers and $ 4.6 million for West North Carolina Community Health Services that were part of the legislation.
“Happy to announce that NC-11 has received donations from the United States Department of Health and Human Services,” he wrote. “I am proud to see taxpayer dollars returned to NC-11.”
President of the Democratic National Committee, Jaime Harrison took note of Hawthorn’s tweet and criticized the congressman and the GOP.
“Come on, man,” he wrote. “@RepCawthorn is trying to get credit for the concessions HE VOTED AGAINST. Republicans are not ashamed. “
—Jaime Harrison, president of DNC (@harrisonjaime) March 30, 2021
Read More: Here are nine obstacles that Biden’s infrastructure plan would have to overcome in Congress before it became law
Cawthorn’s spokesman, Micah Bock, told NBC News in a statement last week that the congressman uses his social media account “to post information relevant to his voters on NC-11.”
“Often, this means providing relevant federal information about proposals that the congressman does not support,” he said. “There are parts of the American Rescue Plan that benefit NC-11, however, the accounts are not approved in part, are approved in full or are not approved and this project does much more harm than good.”
Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi praised the billions in funding for the restaurant industry he championed – it was part of the final package he voted against.
“Independent restaurant operators earned $ 28.6 billion in targeted relief”, he tweeted after the project was approved. “This funding will ensure that small businesses can survive the pandemic, helping to adapt their operations and keep their employees on the payroll.”
When asked by CNN’s Manu Raju why he did not support the full measure, Wicker said he did not need to accept the full measure and criticized the questioning.
“Just because there is a good disposition on a $ 1.9 trillion note does not mean that I have to vote for it … I think it is a stupid question. I am not going to vote for $ 1.9 trillion just because there are some good dispositions in it. “
Republican congressmen are currently cornered over this issue.
A Pew Research survey released shortly before the project was signed showed that 70% of American adults support the legislation, with only 28% of respondents opposing the measure.
Even 41% of Republican respondents or those with Republican tendencies, a significant minority, supported the COVID-19 relief bill.
National Republican leaders pledged to use the bill as a campaign attack against Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections, but nearly three dozen Republican mayors across the county, from David Holt of Oklahoma City to John Giles de Mesa , supported the legislation.