Rep. Don Young, Alaska's only congressman, skipped voting on a coronavirus relief package after telling a group of elderly constituents the COVID-19 outbreak is being "blown out of proportion."
The Republican House member missed the vote in the early hours of March 14, Newsweek is reporting. But according to the Anchorage Daily News, he later attended an NRA fundraiser in Alaska, his Facebook posts show.
Just a day earlier, he had spoken to a group of about 50 elderly constituents in Palmer, Alaska.
"This beer virus I call it, they call it a coronavirus, I call it a beer virus, how do you like that?" he is quoted as saying in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. "It attacks our senior citizens. Now I'm one of you. I still say we have to as a nation, as a state, to go forth with our everyday activities."
He added: "This is blown out of proportion about how deadly this is. It's deadly but it's not nearly as deadly as the other viruses we have, but we respond to, I call it the hysteria concept."
Young's spokesman Zack Brown did not respond to questions by the Anchorage Daily News about his remarks.
"Congressman Young helped the House pass legislation authorizing billions of dollars in funding to combat COVID-19, and has been in communication with House leadership to ensure that proper resources are available to turn the tide in the fight against COVID-19," Brown said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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