Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Stefanik voted against the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion partisan package guised as COVID-19 relief. She issued the following statement:
“Rather than focusing on bipartisan COVID-19 relief to safely re-open our economy and schools, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and President Biden instead rammed through a partisan $1.9 trillion spending package stuffed with their Far-Left wish list. Less than 9% of spending goes toward public health measures, and more than a third of funds won’t be spent until 2022 or later. Nancy Pelosi accepted less than 1% of amendments proposed by Republicans, including language that would have blocked prisoners and illegal immigrants from receiving stimulus checks, held states accountable for underreporting nursing home deaths, invested in workforce development, and expanded rural child care options. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I successfully delivered billions of dollars in funding to the North Country and supported multiple, bipartisan packages to fund vaccine research, development, and distribution, and support small businesses, schools, hospitals, farms, and hardworking families to safely reopen our North Country economy. Rather than focus on distributing the $1 trillion that remains unspent from previous bipartisan COVID-19 packages, President Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer forced their partisan wish list through Congress, and unfortunately, American taxpayers will now be stuck with their nearly $2 trillion dollar bill.”
Specifically, Congresswoman Stefanik opposed the bill because it will:
- Give stimulus checks to prisoners and illegal immigrants
- Fund companies, colleges, and universities with Chinese Communist Party partnerships
- Cut Medicare for seniors starting in 2022
- Disincentivize getting people back to work by increasing federal unemployment benefits through September
- Provide zero funding for workforce development programs
- Does not require schools to re-open for in-person learning
- Send billions of taxpayer dollars overseas for foreign aid programs
- Allow taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, breaking from longstanding Hyde Amendment protections
- Create burdensome, unnecessary barriers for families in need of childcare
