Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) criticized his Democrat colleagues Friday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) kicks off what has been described as her two-week plan to turn the lower chamber into a “factory for Democratic policies,” the Kentucky Republican assessing that Democrats “inherited a tide that was already turning.”
“We’re already set to come roaring back — not due to this liberal spending spree. Democrats inherited a tide that was already turning,” McConnell said Friday as the Senate awaits a vote on the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief legislation.
“We could have worked together to do something smart & bipartisan to finish this fight ASAP. Democrats decided to do something else,” he added:
This week, McConnell warned Republicans would fight the Democrat proposal “in every way that [they] can,” repeating the concerns highlighted by other Republicans, who noted the vast majority of the bill goes toward projects that have little to nothing to do with the Chinese coronavirus.
The minority leader described the bill as “wildly expensive” and “largely unrelated to the problem.”
The Democrat-led House passed the massive piece of legislation last week, earning no support from Republicans.
“I’m tired of Democrats pushing this stuff on us like they actually care about the American people. It’s obvious in this package that they don’t when nine percent is actually going toward COVID relief, and then they’re packaging this as relief for Americans,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) told Breitbart News during an appearance at CPAC last week:
“Relief for who? It’s relief in the form of a Biden blue state bailout, and this is exactly what the American people are tired of: $1.9 trillion? It’s our children. It’s our children’s children who will have to pay that back, and it’s devastating what they’re doing to our country in the name of relief and then trying to make Republicans just look like mean, bad people,” Boebert continued.
“But we know that there’s still $1 trillion that’s already been passed and approved that’s unspent. Let’s spend that $1 trillion before loading up a brand new bill full of pork,” she said, asking why art institutes are getting “millions of dollars when the American people are sitting at home waiting on a $1,400 check.”
“Progressives are incentivizing Americans to vote for Democrats because they think they’re someone going to get some sort of bonus from it. Maybe $2,000 checks. Well, no,” she added. “We’re getting a president who’s bringing us back into endless wars, and just making money out of thin air.”
The final vote on the legislation has been delayed due to Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) move, forcing the Senate clerk to read the entirety of the 628-page bill — a process which could take up to ten hours.