Soon after Joe Biden entered office, he unveiled a COVID relief proposal for Congress. The new spending package clocks in at $1.9 trillion dollars. But critics lament that much of that massive spending does little to address the ongoing pandemic.
Congress quickly passed numerous spending bills early last year to address the onset of the virus. The government has spent a huge sum of money to provide assistance to states, develop vaccines, and even send aid to Americans. But when Republicans wanted to negotiate a new package last Summer, Nancy Pelosi refused, admitting it was over politics.
Now, with Joe Biden in the White House, Democrats still appear to be dragging their feet. Biden released his massive bill, but Congress has refused to do anything about it.
Republicans have responded with ideas of their own.
“In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the letter notes…
The proposal would cost about $600 billion, Sen. Bill Cassidy said during an interview on Fox News Sunday. That price tag comes in significantly lower than Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal…
The letter notes that billions of dollars in COVID relief funds remain unspent.
“Just last month, Congress provided $900 billion in additional resources, and communities are only now receiving much of that assistance,” the letter says. “Some of the spending appropriated through the CARES Act, passed last March, also has yet to be exhausted.” [Source: Just the News]
Democrats, as usual, want to throw money at the problem. They’ve yet to provide clear leadership and vision for a problem that has been lingering for nearly a year. In fact, even now, they are more preoccupied with their doomed impeachment trial, instead of trying to help Americans.
And Schumer exposed his party’s broken agenda, when he reacted to this letter from the GOP. He accused Republicans of proposing a “take-it-or-leave-it-offer” and said they should negotiate with him, rather than appeal to Biden. Funny, that. Republicans have tried to negotiate with Democrats for months and got nowhere.
Joe Biden’s response? His office excited an invitation to these Republicans, as their letter requested.
President Joe Biden invited a small group of Republican senators to the White House next week for an “exchange of views” after they countered his COVID-19 relief plan with a much smaller proposal, the details of which they plan to release in-full on Monday. [Source: Daily Wire]
This response from Biden appears promising. But so far in his administration, he has talked big but delivered little. Biden might sit down for a meeting with these lawmakers, but that does not mean he will listen to their concerns. Joe Biden has already forced through over 40 executive orders, in obvious attempts to circumvent Congress. Will he really bother to respect and consider these conservatives’ opinions?