Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., called the Democrats' latest $3 trillion coronavirus bill a "wish list" and said it wasn't a "good look" for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to attempt to pass the legislation along party lines.
“The HEROES Act is dead on arrival," Porter said on Tuesday during an online meeting with the Tustin Democratic Club.
"I did find myself on the House floor thinking [of] my Republican colleagues who said, ‘This bill is a Democratic wish list written by a handful of Democrats, and shoved down the throats of the rest of the Congress,'" Porter said.
She continued, "I often don’t think that they have any point — I think they had a real point about this bill," she added. "So, the bill is going nowhere."
The bill, which passed by a 208-199 vote, includes $1,200 per month payments to eligible people, with up to $6,000 for each household. The bill also adds $600 a week to recipients of unemployment benefits until January 2021 and $175 billion to help families pay rent and mortgages.
Many Republicans were bothered by the portions of the bill that would give $1,200 checks to illegal immigrants, provide $25 billion to the U.S. Postal Service and allow early voting and vote-by-mail provisions.
"There was no bipartisan negotiation here and no effort at bipartisan negotiation, which I also think is problematic," Porter went on to say. "It’s not to say that we could’ve gotten there. It’s not to say that the Republicans would’ve agreed with our priorities. But I do not think it is a good look in a time of national crisis to act in a strictly partisan way. I don’t like it when Donald Trump does it, and I don’t like it when Nancy Pelosi does it."
Porter voted for the bill but is worried that doing so can be used against her in the next November election.
"The way that we did this virtually guaranteed the bill was going to, one, die immediately and, two, that I would be hit with endless attacks about having supported a Democratic wishlist with the most expensive government bill ever put out," Porter said.
Porter added: "It’s not a good look for someone like me in Orange County. It will make my reelection harder ... and it’s not even the best policy approach that we could’ve brought to the table."
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