House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is sounding off on the Democrats in the House Committee on Education and Labor pushing an almost $2 trillion stimulus bill that includes proposals that will "only make America weaker and bring our recovery to a halt."
The reconciliation markups committee Democrats put in the bill on Tuesday evening include:
- National wage mandate to $15 an hour.
- $200 million to the Institute of Library Services
- Removal of safeguards that prevented millions of taxpayer dollars to go to colleges with multi-billion dollar endowments
- Billions of dollars for schools with no requirements in-person teaching
The Congressional Budget Office estimated 1.4 million Americans would lose their jobs if the minimum wage were to increase to $15 per hour, with poverty in the country reduced to around "0.9 million."
In response to some of the proposals, Republicans on the committee introduced amendments such as prevention of government-funded health care for illegal immigrants and requirements for schools to reopen for in-person learning in order to receive federal relief funds.
Those amendments were rejected by the Democrat-majority on the committee.
Democrats also rejected an amendment that banned higher education relief funds from going towards colleges and universities that have partnerships with entities owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
The #COVID19 relief package will help our communities defeat the pandemic and build back a better America.
— Committee on Education & Labor (@EdLaborCmte) February 9, 2021
Read Chairman @BobbyScott’s opening statement from today’s markup:https://t.co/WqpZKY7h7m pic.twitter.com/7TJND43V0a
"The policies debated at an Education and Labor Congressional committee should at the minimum help protect American jobs, and enhance the education of our students. But last night’s Democrat-led committee mark-up on the $1.9 trillion so-called relief bill pushed through a federally-mandated minimum wage hike predicted to destroy more than a million jobs, and gave no assurances to parents and children that their schools will actually reopen," McCarthy said in a statement.
"Democrats even unanimously objected to a commonsense proposal that would have helped prevent Chinese Communist Party propaganda from infiltrating our campuses," he continued. "Republicans will work with anyone to get the American people back to work, kids back in school, and the vaccine to those who want it, but these policy distractions will only make America weaker and bring our recovery to a halt."