Exclusive — Louie Gohmert: Democrats Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Crisis

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told Breitbart News in an interview on Tuesday that Democrats exploited the coronavirus package by pushing for bigger government and policies that will hurt small businesses.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pushed forward with Democrats’ coronavirus response package without many of President Donald Trump’s proposals, including a payroll tax holiday.

Gohmert said Democrats took advantage of the package to push for paid sick and family leave in the coronavirus package that negatively impacts small businesses.

Quoting former Barack Obama Chief of Staff, Gohmert said the Democrats “Never let a crisis go to waste.”

The Texas conservative revealed the package crafted by Democrats exempted businesses larger than 500 employees, exposing the Democrats’ corporatist tendencies. He said:

We were talking about really ramming the Department of Labor and Treasury through some small businesses’ lives. And so much for the Democrats’ hating big business and big corporations. Because you look at the bill, they exempted business with 500 or more employees. They targeted only businesses that have less than 500 employees. There was a time 12 years ago with Obamacare that they exempted businesses that had less than 50 employees. If they had a turnover over the last decade, they had a turnover with the small businesses and given the big evil corporations a major break.

“If you’re a small business, a very small business, it may put you out of business, not to come and work. And so I have a concern for those regular employees who are going to lose their employees and go out of business because they have to pay people who are not coming to work even though they get reimbursed,” he added.

“Democrats wanted to go because this is a crisis, and that means more government intervention and took advantage of that chance.”

In contrast, Gohmert said Congress should consider Trump’s payroll tax holiday. The Texas congressman said he came up with the idea as an “alternative” to the 2008 financial crisis bailout package.

“You could allow people to keep the massive amount of money in their paycheck that they send to Washington every month,” Gohmert said. “They’re going to know what better to do it instead of the bozos in Wall Street that sent us to the brink of ruin.”

The spread of the coronavirus throughout China has exposed the deep vulnerabilities in the U.S. medical supply chain as well as the country’s dependence upon China producing pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Axios reported the coronavirus outbreak has jeopardized the American supply of roughly 150 pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, generics, and brand-name drugs. Some of these drugs do not have alternatives on the market.