US Rep. Dan Meuser took to the House floor earlier this week to voice his opposition to the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (aka the Biden stimulus bill).
President Biden signed the so-called Rescue plan into law on Friday and that should trigger $1,400 stimulus payments to Americans starting in the next few days. However, there’s a lot more to this bill than those cash infusions.
In his speech, Meuser said over the course of the past year, Congress has passed $3.7 trillion in aid spending to react to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of that hasn’t even been spent, so why spend more?
Further, Meuser says, so few of those nearly $2 trillion has anything to do with COVID.
US Rep Meuser Opposed to Biden Stimulus Bill
Meuser highlighted some of what he calls overspending on problems that don’t exist or aren’t COVID-related:
- States getting $350 billion on top of the $500 billion already distributed through 2020 legislation.
- Supplementing unemployment benefits (with an additional $300 per week through September) while small business struggle to find employees.
- “Currently incarcerated murderers” getting $1,400 stimulus payments.
- Federal workers getting an addition $35 per hour on top of their full salary to care for children learning from home.
“When we should be focused on economic recovery, getting our children back to school, and vaccine distribution, Democrats are intent on passing legislation that caters to special interests, while also enormously expanding our national debt and the role of the federal government in our lives,” Meuser says in a statement.
Watch Meuser’s full speech on the House floor here:
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