House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Friday lambasted the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law signed by President Joe Biden as a “waste of money” and said it serves as a “payoff” to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “political friends.”
“Your money is going to pay for illegal immigrants’ healthcare,” McCarthy said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “Your money also is being sent to San Francisco where [it] will be spent giving alcohol and marijuana to the homeless. That is what that bill is doing.”
He further complained that “two-thirds of the money for the schools don’t even come forward to 2023” and that there is “$1 trillion still sitting there from the five bills we’ve already passed. This is a waste of money. Less than 9% of it is going to COVID. This is a payoff to Pelosi’s political friends.”
Biden signed the bill into law Thursday, one day earlier than had been expected. It got no Republican votes in either the House or the Senate.
The measure provides up to $1,400 in direct payments to many Americans, extends emergency unemployment benefits, and allocates hundreds of billions for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to schools, and to state and local governments.
House and Senate Republicans unanimously opposed the package. McCarthy slammed it as an overly bloated bill filled with liberal wish list items, and said it was passed while the COVID-19 pandemic’s numbers have been slowing down.
McCarthy criticized Biden for not giving former President Donald Trump credit for work that went into the development and approval of the COVID-19 vaccines approved during the last administration.
“How is he able to provide that shot?” McCarthy asked. “Operation Warp Speed. [Biden] also said when he got into office that they didn’t have the vaccine until he came in, even though he was already vaccinated.”
“Let’s give credit where credit is due because it is the American ingenuity that came together, that we had a virus hit us from China, that we came together and made vaccines, and now there’s three out there that’s already approved.”
The leader added he thinks every American who wants a vaccine should be able to get one, but at the same time, “every American should be able to go back to work, back to school, and back to health.”
“[The new law is] going to cost every family of four $22,000, and the thing he’s not telling you, is what’s in this bill,” McCarthy said. “Let me just point out three things which our hard-working taxpayer’s money is going for. You are now going to provide bonuses up to $25,000 to government employees and bureaucrats and if you’re not part of the swamp, you get nothing.”
Source: Newmax
