Republicans shamelessly take credit for the relief of Covid-19 that they voted against

Two recent tweets from members of Congress illustrate how, after President Joe Biden signed the Covid-19 relief bill, Republicans are trying to “have their cake and vote against it too,” as Barack Obama once said.

That $ 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which Biden sanctioned last Thursday, did not receive a single Republican vote, although recent polls show that a majority of Republican voters say they support him partially or wholly. The popularity of the legislation puts Republican members of Congress in a difficult situation: how does a message against a bill that most Americans like that will cut child poverty in half, while also squeezing an economy that was devastated by the one-year pandemic?

Some Republicans, perhaps understandably, are choosing to focus on distractions from cultural war as if Dr. Seuss is being “canceled”. But others are shamelessly trying to take credit for Democratic politics right after they voted against it.

An example of this came last Friday, when Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) patted herself on the back for a decision made by the Biden Small Business Administration to extend the postponement periods for Disaster Loans by Economic Injuries Covid-19 (EIDL).

“BREAKING … I am so proud to announce that the Biden administration has just implemented my bipartisan relief bill COVID as part of @SBAgov,” Salazar tweeted, with a link to a statement on her website in which she said: “ I am so proud that my bipartisan legislation has officially become SBA policy. “

The moment of the tweet, arriving a day after the signing of the American Rescue Plan, led many to believe that the legislator was referring to the Covid-19 relief bill that Salazar voted against – that bill contains $ 15 billion in EIDL financing. But the SBA decision she highlighted is, in fact, distinct from the American Rescue Plan, as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council (NEC), Bharat Ramamurti, explained on Twitter.

“I saw some confusion about this,” Ramamurti wrote, referring to Salazar’s tweet. “On Friday – separate from the American bailout bill – the SBA announced that it was allowing 3M + companies to postpone EIDL loan payments for an extra year.

“We are happy to see bipartisan support for this and other changes we have made to help small businesses,” he added.

While it is not correct to say that Salazar is trying to receive credit for the Covid-19 relief project, his claim that the Biden government “implemented” his “COVID bipartisan aid project” is false. The bill in question was not put to a vote in Congress and it does not appear that the SBA’s decision was inspired by it. A SBA press release announcing the extension of the postponement does not mention Salazar.

Salazar on Sunday responded to criticism by trying to turn the tables, tweeting that his statement “has nothing to do with the $ 1.9T Blue State redemption. It is a bipartisan policy that I introduced separately and that was adopted by the SBA. “

But while Salazar played misleading semantic games on Twitter, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced that it is buying billboards in her district to highlight that she and other Florida Republicans voted against $ 1,400 in relief checks – a part of the relief project. Covid-19 Democrat supported by more than 80 percent of Americans.

Senator Wicker voted against his own amendment, then took credit for it being passed

Even more striking than Salazar’s tweet was that of Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) praising the $ 28.6 billion in aid to restaurants included in the relief account.

“Independent restaurant operators earned $ 28.6 billion in targeted relief,” Wicker tweeted on Wednesday. “This funding will ensure that small businesses can survive the pandemic, helping to adapt their operations and keep their employees on the payroll.”

It is true that Wicker pushed for relief in restaurants – he and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) proposed an amendment to the bill with funding. But Wicker ended up voting against his own amendment.

Wicker was completely swept away by trying to have it both ways.

Speaking to reporters last Wednesday, Wicker dismissed a question about whether he was trying to take credit for Democratic legislation as a “stupid question”.

“A good disposition on a $ 1.9 trillion bill does not mean that I have to vote for the whole thing,” he said.

But voters don’t really seem to be buying Republican claims that, although there are good parts of the bill, it was too big after all to merit support. Recent polls by Vox and Data for Progress showed that twice as many voters preferred the path that Democrats took to pass a major relief bill quickly rather than a Republican option that was only a third the size.

There are precedents for Republicans to try to take credit for the legislation they voted against. As Amanda Terkel detailed for HuffPost, they did the same thing for the 2009 stimulus that, like the 2021 one, passed without a single Republican vote:

A similar pattern occurred after the 2009 stimulus, when Republican lawmakers who voted against President Barack Obama’s legislation returned to their home districts and took credit for the money that flowed to their voters. At the time, ThinkProgress had 114 Republican lawmakers who blocked the bill while publicizing its benefits. They sent press releases receiving credit for the money that financed projects in their district, although they voted against it.

On Wednesday, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), perhaps aware of this precedent, said on the floor of the House that “what we are all concerned about on our side is that all Republicans will vote against it, and then they will show up in every cut of ribbon and in every project financed with this account, and they will roll up their sleeves and receive credit for all these great benefits that are reaching their citizens. ”

The aid package Covid-19 signed by Biden is even more popular than the 2009 stimulus. This also happened after many Republicans supported two relief projects for Covid-19 while Donald Trump was president, as well as tax cuts in 2017. which (coincidentally) were designed to add $ 1.9 trillion to the national debt, while disproportionately benefiting the wealthy.

But now that Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress, Republicans are suddenly finding reasons to be against spending, although the legislation has some degree of support from most Republican voters – and in at least two cases , are pretending that they actually supported the parties that benefit their voters, even when they voted against them.