[ad_1]
Topline
All Republicans in Congress voted against the $1.9 trillion relief bill signed by President Joe Biden last month – but that hasn’t stopped several of them from publicly celebrating funding to their districts made possible by its passage.
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 6 (FILE): Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., left, and Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., … [+]
Key Facts
The offices of Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) put out a press release last month celebrating the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s rollback of cuts, tying it to a letter they had sent urging the MTA to “reconsider these service cuts.”
MTA leaders have credited the development to $6.5 billion in funding from the relief bill – though Garbarino pointed out to the New York Post that the decision was made before the bill’s all-but-assured passage in the House, while Zeldin said he didn’t support the funding being “coupled with trillions of dollars of unrelated monopoly, funny money.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) landed in hot water on Twitter shortly after the bill passed the Senate – without his support – for celebrating a $28.6 billion grant for restaurants he had proposed that ultimately made it in the bill.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), who had called the bill “nothing more than a Pelosi payoff” in February, tweeted last week that he was “happy to announce” more than $19 million in grants to health centers in his district that were allocated by the package.
Crucial Quote
“They’ll vote no, take the dough, and show up at the ribbon-cutting,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Republican lawmakers at a press conference last month shortly after the bill passed the House.
Chief Critic
“Republicans have openly admitted that they ‘bungled’ their messaging around the American Rescue Plan,” Pelosi said in a statement on Saturday, predicting “more of this shamelessness” if Republicans oppose Biden’s more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan.
What To Watch For
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday predicted no Republicans will vote for Biden’s infrastructure plan, citing a proposal to increase the corporate tax rate as well as his personal “alarm” about the national debt.
[ad_2]