WASHINGTON, D.C. (LOOTPRESS) – Senator Shelley Moore Capito issued the below statement after opposing the $1.9 trillion spending package, most of which is unrelated to COVID-19 relief, that did not receive a single Republican vote.
“President Biden and the Democrats had the perfect chance to demonstrate to the country that we can unify behind delivering targeted relief to Americans who need it most. Instead of joining together, Democrats took advantage of a pandemic and chose to poison this relief bill with a trillion dollars of unrelated spending items that have been on their wish lists for years.
“Many of my Democratic colleagues refer to this as a recovery package, but unlike the previous five COVID relief bills, this bill risks actually preventing our economy from recovering, which it is already showing signs of doing. This partisan bill attempts to fix problems that don’t exist, hamstring growth that has already begun, rewards bad decisions by elected officials, and opens the floodgates for unchartered levels of federal spending.
“I want to help parents and students who want to return school, and I want to help small businesses get back on their feet. And perhaps above all else, I want to help get the vaccine to every American who wants one. I will continue to focus on West Virginians who need our attention the most, and I will urge my colleagues to join me and work together as we recover from this pandemic.”
BACKGROUND:
In February, Senator Capito and nine other Republican senators participated in a two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss their targeted COVID-19 relief proposal and urged the need to pass a bipartisan relief bill. A version of that alternative, costing more than a $1 trillion less while meeting the COVID-related needs, was offered by the same group and was defeated along partisan lines.
Since March 2019, Congress has passed five bipartisan COVID-19 relief bills and provided more than $4 trillion in COVID-19 relief. The latest COVID-19 relief packaged provided $900 billion in additional resources and was signed into law on December 27, 2020. Much of that assistance is only now being disbursed.
