House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) delivered scathing remarks blasting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her attempts to jam a liberal Christmas wish list down the throats of Americans to capitalize on the coronavirus threat while millions were losing their jobs. McCarthy warned that history would judge Pelosi and her fellow Democrats harshly for squandering precious time pushing liberal pet projects that never made it into the final bill.
“There are some individuals in Congress who even in the midst of a pandemic think this is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit their own vision,” McCarthy declared in remarks on the House floor, shortly after Pelosi had spoken. He noted that Democrats “want to debate election law, the Green New Deal, or sanctuary cities in a bill that is meant to assist struggling families, our health, and our security.”
“We just watched in the last week 3.28 million people laid off,” the Republican leader noted. “And yet for days, Democrats stalled this bill.” Indeed, Senate Democrats blocked the bill on Sunday and again on Monday. On Monday, House Democrats put forward their own bill stuffed with pet projects that had nothing to do with the coronavirus. Ultimately, Pelosi caved and went back to supporting the original Senate bill, which had been drafted after negotiations between Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), McCarthy, and none other than Pelosi herself.
In other words, Pelosi gambled with the lives and livelihoods of Americans and lost big time.
“How many people were laid off as the Democrats fought to change the election law or implement the Green New Deal?!” McCarthy demanded. “How many parents lost sleep wondering how they’re going to make the payments for the next month?! How many small businesses sat around the kitchen table and had to make that decision they never had to before about laying their employees off — [employees] that are like family?”
“A few minutes ago, the speaker stood at this podium and claimed that House Democrats did what she called a ‘jiu-jitsu’ to change the bill. That is an outright lie,” the Republican leader declared. “The fundamental portions of this bill have not changed since Sunday. Four months for unemployment was already decided on Sunday. The grants to keep employees hired on small business was already decided on Sunday.”
“The only few additions were funding of things that had nothing to do with coronavirus. Was that worth holding it up and more people being laid off? More people losing sleep? More people wondering if they could continue?” McCarthy asked.
“What Democrats did was a total disgrace,” he declared. “History will not be kind to the days that added to the millions who are unemployed simply because they wanted to change the election law, the Green New Deal, and thought it was a tremendous opportunity.”
“The bill we had Sunday, 99.9 percent of it, is the bill that we’ll have tomorrow,” McCarthy noted.
Relief is coming to the American people, no thanks to Nancy Pelosi’s shenanigans.
Every minute matters as we work to deliver much-needed relief to America's workers and small businesses. And yet for days, Democrats stalled in order to debate our election laws and the Green New Deal. What a disgrace.https://t.co/f0uPFGaEXb
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) March 26, 2020
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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