It is crucial to pass the coronavirus response bill as quickly as possible without being sidetracked by extraneous concerns, Rep. Jodey Arrington told Newsmax TV’s “Newsmax Now” on Monday.
The Texas Republican said it is important to get the bill right by addressing vital issues to those whose livelihoods are at stake, but that Democrats are bringing in issues that are not critical in this crisis.
“What we can’t afford to do is have this process bogged down on polices that are irrelevant and nongermane to disaster relief and recovery, said Arrington, who is on the House Ways and Means Committee. “We can’t be bogged down on environmental policies. We can’t be bogged down on pension bailouts and some of these other things that I’m hearing are in the” bill sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Responding to Democratic arguments that the Republican proposal worries too much about corporations and not enough about ordinary workers who will be hurt the most, Arrington said that when this is all over, we want people to go back to work and “we want to connect people to their place of employment and have that continuity to the extent we can.”
The congressman, whose district in western Texas is home to many smaller family independent oil and gas producers, also talked about the concerns of the energy industry.
“This price war and the fallout prior to the coronavirus was already very damaging and is now wholesale disastrous for the energy industry,” he said, emphasizing it is crucial on a national level to be able to maintain energy independence, pointing out the problems caused by the fact that the U.S. is dependent on foreign medical supplies is only too apparent in this crisis.
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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