House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in an email to his party’s caucus Friday (Feb. 19) that the House Republican leadership recommended a “no” vote on the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, which The bill is very similar to President Biden‘s proposed economic stimulus package.
According to emails quoted by The Hill, Scalise wrote, “Leadership recommends a no vote.”
The bill, packaged by the House Budget Committee (HBC), is expected to be voted on in the House next week. Democrats released the full 591-page bill (PDF), called the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, on Friday.
Biden proposed $160 billion for vaccines and testing, $170 billion to assist schools and universities, and a $1,400 stimulus check for each eligible American.
In the email, Scalise referred to the bill as “Pelosi’s Payoff to Progressives Act. The email alleges that Democrats are eager to bring to the floor a relief package that would “keep schools closed, bail out blue states, pay non-workers and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“Republicans insist that we must safely reopen schools, reopen the economy, speed up vaccine distribution, and effectively use the remaining $1 trillion from the previous COVID bailout,” Scalise wrote in an email, “yet Democrats have rejected hundreds of amendments offered by Republicans, nor have they adopted any targeted, temporary and bipartisan solution that combines with COVID relief.”
Scalise had published an opinion piece in the Washington Post, co-authored with Tim Phillips, in which he noted that more than $1 trillion in previously announced aid for the CCP virus (Wuhan pneumonia, COVID-19) remains unspent.
“We are not eligible to borrow another $1.9 trillion from our children’s future when these funds, which were used to help reopen national security, have not all been spent.” The two wrote.
Scalise said, “It is clear that Democrats are not interested in a timely and targeted means of COVID relief, but rather in using the budget agreement process (reconciliation process) to pass their liberal wish list agenda.”
Under Senate rules of procedure, this type of “budget agreement” bill is allowed to pass by a simple majority vote. Most other bills require the support of at least 60 senators to avoid procedural hurdles, i.e., the use of “lengthy debates” (procedural obstruction of proceedings, Filibuster) by lawmakers to prevent passage of the bill.
The email identified 14 provisions in the bill, including a “$350 billion bailout for blue states” and a projected gradual increase in the national minimum wage by 107 percent to $15 per hour, killing 1.4 million jobs.
The controversial proposal in the House bill aims to gradually raise the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour by 2025.
In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) questioned the message of the email and the Republican leadership’s call for a “no” vote. She accused Scalise of “specifically attacking” the U.S. relief program’s nutritional assistance program for the pandemic.
“Americans need help. House Republicans don’t care.” She alleges.
“At a Time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs and demanding government relief to reopen schools and put people back to work, House Republican leadership is asking its members to vote against a bipartisan plan to help struggling Americans.” Pelosi wrote.
Pelosi said the bill “has the support of 73 percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, and the support of economists on both sides of the aisle.”
She also said Moody’s Investors Service, a bond credit rating firm, found that a $1,400 stimulus check would create 10 million American jobs.
If the House passes the bill, it will be voted on in the Senate. Currently, the Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, and if the vote comes down to a 50-50 split, it will be Vice President Kamala Harris who will cast the deciding vote.
The Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit think tank, said earlier this month that nearly half of the House’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill has been diverted to non-pandemic issues unrelated to pandemic relief.
Nearly half of the package, which would go to poorly targeted rebate checks, and state and local government assistance, including for families and governments that have lost nothing or little financially in this crisis,” said Maya MacGuineas (D-Mich.), the committee’s chairman, in a statement. “
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected last week that real (Inflation-adjusted) GDP is expected to grow by 3.7 percent in 2021 as vaccinations increase and COVID-19 transmission decreases. According to the forecast, GDP could return to pre-pandemic levels by the middle of this year without any change in government spending.
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