Joco Today

Immediately after swearing in, President Biden spoke about his eagerness to work with members of Congress of both parties to deliver COVID relief.

After less than seven weeks since that statement, the President is opting for a purely partisan reconciliation process to pass a $1.9 trillion piece of legislation. Regrettably, this exorbitant legislation represents a key missed opportunity to respond to the real need for strategic and targeted additional stimulus in a bipartisan manner. Instead of working with Republican lawmakers to deliver a bipartisan package, President Biden and Democrats in Congress are choosing to ram through their own enormous stimulus bill with only Democratic support. This is especially disheartening after the President stressed the importance of unity as a central theme of his campaign and governing approach. 

Last month, I signed onto a letter to President Biden with my Republican colleagues, encouraging the Biden Administration to first use the funds that have already been appropriated by Congress in response to COVID-19. The letter points out that last year Congress provided $4 trillion in stimulus funding in response to the pandemic, including nearly $1 trillion in funding enacted just two months ago. Today, over $1 trillion of that funding, or one-fourth of the total funding provided to date, has not gone out the door.

This leaves the obvious question, “why should Congress provide for another nearly $2 trillion in funding for additional COVID response, when nearly $1 trillion remains available today?” It is crucial for the American people to understand that both the level of stimulus spending and lack of oversight of those funds is completely unprecedented in modern times. For comparison, this COVID legislation is two and half times larger than the $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama’s in 2009 following the Great Recession. 

To put it simply, the Democrats’ bill is a partisan wish list that prioritizes their political agenda rather than the American people. Look no further than the fact that the last 5 COVID bills have been broadly bipartisan – this bill will not be. A substantial portion of this bill has little to do with COVID at all. Instead, it is comprised of Democratic special interest group priorities, liberal constituency bailouts, and other completely unrelated progressive policy initiatives.   

In addition to blowing another hole in our already unsustainable budget, this legislation also provides for a $350 billion bailout for liberal states and cities. This is on top of a $150 billion allocated last year for state and local COVID relief. While the initial funding was tied directly to COVID related relief, this bailout is nothing more than a gift to the Biden Administration’s allies in Democrat-controlled states and cities.

To add insult to injury, this legislation favors large urban cities over rural communities. Big states like California and New York, are prioritized over small states like Kansas and Nebraska. The funding formula for part of the state and local aid is based upon unemployment versus population numbers, even though COVID has impacted every state. This formula will reward states and localities that imposed excessive lockdown measures, which inflicted massive economic, physical, and mental harm on their citizens. Additionally, this bailout money will also reward states who severely mismanaged their own budgets dating back prior to COVID.

It is disgraceful that when so many Americans in our country are suffering, Democrats are exploiting this situation to advance their own political agenda. We should absolutely reject this misguided and overtly partisan legislation masquerading as COVID relief. Any stimulus package considered should be targeted and tied strictly to COVID. Congress has a real opportunity to help workers and families in Kansas get through this challenging time, but only if we come together, in a sensible manner, to work and solve these problems created by COVID.