Sen. Tom Cotton harshly criticized President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill Monday, telling “Fox & Friends” that less than a dime for every dollar goes to help those harmed by the pandemic and instead is meant as a payoff to Democrats' constituents.
Many Americans are set to receive a one-time $1,400 check under the bill, but federal employees are to get $1,400 every week, as long as their children's schools stay closed.
The Arkansas Republican slammed that provision, saying that “if you're working in the middle of the country, hard to make a living, you get one $1,400 payment once. If you're a federal bureaucrat in Washington where your schools are still closed, you get it every single week. Talk about the swamp looking out after itself."
He also said the $130 billion for schools included in the bill is a waste of priorities, as “only a nickel of each dollar of that money is going to be spent this year. Most of it is for future years” to pay off teachers unions.
Cotton also condemned what he said were unnecessary payoffs to Democrat-dominated states, saying “less than a dime of every dollar goes to coronavirus. Just take a look at the payoff to some of their constituencies — $350 billion for states that are poorly run and that have longstanding problems but didn't even lose money because of the coronavirus.”
The senator said “Biden thinks there's no time to waste [because] Democrats can see cases have plummeted since early January ... and vaccination rates are surging, so I think they're worried they won't have the coronavirus as an excuse to pay off all their clients and patrons in a $1.9 trillion blowout bill.”
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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