Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., says the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package is just a wish list for Democrats.
“It is very disrespectful of hard-working taxpayers and I will tell you that in Tennessee, I have not talked to many people who think that more spending for COVID is a good idea,” Blackburn said Tuesday during an appearance on Newsmax TV’s “American Agenda.”
“We’ve already done nearly $4 trillion in COVID relief. The money that was passed in December still is not out to local governments and schools and communities and small businesses with extra rounds of PPP. People are saying, ‘Hey, why are you doing this?’”
“The thing with disaster relief is its to be targeted, temporary. It is to be timely. Just to pass money so that you can say, ‘Well, we’re going to put in $350 billion in the states and, by the way, $50 billion of that goes to New York, $27 billion goes to California.’ How much do you think other states are going to get? Not very much at all.”
The legislation, which is set for a vote on the House floor at the end of the week, includes, among other items, another round of direct payments to Americans, $25 billion for emergency rental assistance, $10 billion for the Defense Production Act to offset shortages of medical supplies and equipment, expanded and extended federal unemployment benefits, new financial support for parents, expanded tax credits for low-income workers without children, changes to the Paycheck Protection Program, relief for restaurants and bars, grants for venues, $7.5 billion in funding for the CDC to track, administer and distribute COVID-19 vaccines and grants to state educational agencies and higher education institutions.
“When you talk about timely relief and getting money to people that need it, getting money into vaccine distribution, getting shots into arms, there’s very little money in this bill that does that, but there is a lot of money that they would allocate over the next 10 years. ... They’re putting money out to foreign aid, to help vaccinate people in other countries. What we need to do is focus on helping U.S. citizens that have been adversely impacted.”
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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