Why California Republicans all voted against the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package
The COVID relief bill is a slush fund that’s little more than a liberal Democratic wish list. Too much is going to help cash-rich state and local governments. And the whole $1.9 trillion package costs much too much.
That’s the unified, consistent, unmistakable message from California’s 11 House Republicans. They all voted against the economic relief plan passed by the House Wednesday. They all also voted against the first version of the bill last month.
The Democratic-authored plan passed by a 220 to 211 vote, and is on its way to the White House, where President Joe Biden is expected to sign it by the end of the week. All the yes votes came from Democrats. The no votes included 210 Republicans and Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine.
The bill will provide stimulus checks of up to $1,400 per qualifying adult and child — payments that should go to 87% of Californians — and an additional $300 per week in unemployment benefits through early September.
Republicans saw the bill through a very different lens.
“This isn’t a rescue bill, this isn’t a relief bill, it’s a laundry list of left-wing priorities that pre-date the pandemic and do not meet the needs of American families,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, told the House during Wednesday’s debate.
“Government lockdowns have devastated America’s prosperity,” added Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove.
An economic disaster?
Republicans saw the bill as having potential to send the economy reeling.
McCarthy said the bill would cost each American taxpayer $5,000 each. He called it “costly, corrupt and liberal,” and repeatedly cited money going to San Francisco, the home of Demcratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Be wary of the Democratic plan, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-San Marcos, has warned
“I’ve come to expect inefficiency and excess when it comes to government spending. But this is so much worse than that. Desperate families will think relief is on the way. It isn’t,” he said.
Republicans such as Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, have frequently cited a figure of 9% – what they say is the amount in the bill actually slated for pandemic relief. Fact checks have said it’s accurate to say only 9% of the bill goes to programs that are directly related to combating COVID-19, but other parts of the bill such as increased unemployment and stimulus payments are still related to the pandemic.
“This mammoth $1.9 trillion stimulus bill allocates only 9% of its funding directly to fighting the coronavirus through public health spending,” Obernolte said. “The remaining 91% is appropriated for stimulus at a rate that economists say puts our economy in serious danger of overheating.”
Too much help for states?
GOP lawmakers were particularly rankled by the $350 billion going to help state and local governments. Many have seen revenues crushed during the pandemic-triggered recession.
McCarthy called the package a “blue state bailout.”
“It doesn’t make sense to send Gov. Newsom and the state of California a $26.3 billion blank check for lost revenues when California is projecting a $15 billion surplus,” said Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona.
The state’s revenues have been higher than anticipated, largely because wealthier households did not suffer financially in the recession that followed the outbreak and continued to pay tax on income and capital gains.
Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, also said the bill was another example of leaving rural communities behind.
“Just as we are seeing with vaccination distribution in our state, the Bay Area is once again receiving preferential treatment over rural communities thanks to Speaker Pelosi,” Valadao said in a statement Wednesday. “This package will pay off most of San Francisco’s $650 million budget deficit, while the Central Valley is struggling with nearly double the unemployment rates in San Francisco, a hurting economy, and bleak vaccination rates.”
Republicans maintained they were not consulted at all in crafting the bill. Last year, COVID relief bills tended to get broad bipartisan support. Biden met with a group of GOP senators who proposed a less expensive alternative to his plan, but the effort went nowhere.
“There is real bipartisan interest in providing much-needed relief to the American people. However, Democratic leaders in Congress decided to move forward without Republican input and with nearly $1 trillion in COVID-19 relief funding waiting to be spent,” said Rep. Young Kim, R-Fullerton.
McCarthy charged Democrats “have no plan to get kids back in the classroom.” He said the bill made that obvious since $130 billion was allocated for K-12 education, but only $6 billion would be available for schools in 2021. Republicans have repeatedly hit Democrats over school reopenings, believing it will be a winning message to win them back the House in 2022.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, called the bill a “slush fund” that “has nothing to do with COVID” in an interview on Fox News.
“There’s going to be story after story after story about liberal groups and liberal friends, leftists, and socialists being rewarded with other people’s money,” Nunes said.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 12:09 PM with the headline "Why California Republicans all voted against the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package."
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