GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw harshly criticized the Democrats for delaying the passage of the urgently needed coronavirus relief bill.
Appearing on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, the Texas Republican said that in the negotiations “there was their air of bipartisanship, and this notion that we're all in this together - for weeks now - and then they tanked it… in the most partisan of ways."
Calling the actions of the Democrats “pretty unbelievable” and “utterly absurd,” Crenshaw said “Let's talk about what they actually torpedoed here in the bill. Increased unemployment benefits... plus expanded population for who would get those benefits, so our independent contractors would be eligible as well. Small business loan bailouts [which] would be forgiven for rent, utilities, for payroll. And then money for businesses to keep their employees attached to that business.
The congressman added in disgust that "I don't know why Democrats hate the word business so much. I don't know why the word corporation makes them so mad, but that's what they’re claiming was wrong with this bill."
Crenshaw said, "It is hard to understand what they are thinking. I don't think they understand how the economy works -- what makes it function," adding that "We can't make everybody in America a de facto government employee. That's not a good long-term plan and that's not how our economy works."
He said he was dismayed that the Democrats would play partisan games in such an emergency situation, "And, for what?" he asked. "Just so they could put greenhouse gas emission standards on our airlines? So they can advocate for more collective bargaining standards for unions? I mean what are they doing?"
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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