Joni Ernst: Coronavirus Bill Is ‘Porky Partisan, Pricy, Pet Project Package’

Senate GOP / Facebook
Wendell Husebø

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said during a Senate GOP press conference on Tuesday that she might have a new name for President Joe Biden’s Coronavirus package, labeling it the “porky partisan, pricy, pet project package.”

She noted, “We can add in more ‘Ps’: Speaker Pelosi,” a quip related to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) subway system that will cost American workers “millions and millions of dollars.” She asked, “How is this supposed to fight COVID?”

“So what else is in this bill?” she continued.

“We have unemployed millionaires that will be able to access enhanced unemployed benefits. We have millionaires that will be able to participate in childcare programs that were developed for low-income families,” she said, “Millionaires benefiting from lower-wage taxpayers.”

“What else do we get [in this bill]?” she questioned. “The blue state bailouts that have been mentioned that don’t benefit Iowa at all.”

“What we see is a whole lot of nothing that is going to some of these other states.” Ernst thumped.

Before Ernst spoke, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) whistled the same tune. “About nine percent of the money is in the health care space. Less than one percent deals with vaccinations. In the House, the only thing bipartisan about the bill was the opposition to it,” McConnell pointed out.

“It is my hope that all Senate Republicans” will vote against the package. “On the House side, the only thing that was bipartisan was the opposition,” McConnell stated.

At the end of the press conference, McConnell was also asked about former President Trump’s remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in which he took credit over the weekend for McConnell’s Senate race success.

“I want to thank him for the 15-point margin I had in 2014 as well,” McConnell shot back.

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