The House passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday after House Democrats came to an agreement with the Trump administration. The bill extends free testing for the Wuhan Virus to the uninsured. It also increases spending on unemployment benefits, Medicaid and allocates money to provide school lunches to students whose schools remain closed because of the outbreak.
Although the bill passed, these 40 Republicans voted against the bill:
Brian Babin (TX), Jim Banks (IN), Andy Biggs (AZ), Dan Bishop (NC), Ken Buck (CO), Ted Budd (NC), Tim Burchett (TN), Bradley Byrne (AL), Ben Cline (VA), Michael Cloud (TX), Warren Davidson (OH), Scott DesJarlais (TN), Jeff Duncan (SC), Tom Emmer (MN), Russ Fulcher (ID), Mike Gallagher (WI), Louie Gohmert (TX), Lance Gooden (TX), Mark Green (TN), Glen Grothman (WI), Kevin Hern (OK), Jody Hice (GA), Jim Jordan (OH), Steve King (IA), Debbie Lesko (AZ), Billy Long (MO), Barry Loudermilk (GA), Tom McClintock (CA), Alex Mooney (WV)
Ralph Norman (SC), John Rose (TN), Chip Roy (TX), Jim Sensenbrenner (WI), Jason Smith (MO), Bryan Steil (WI), Greg Steube (FL), William Timmons (SC), Michael Waltz (FL), Randy Weber (TX) and Joe Wilson (SC).
Even though the mainstream media and lefties are quick to say Republicans who voted against the bill shouldn't have, GOPers are coming out to explain why.
According to Rep. Chip Roy (TX), House members were given the final version of the bill a half hour before they were supposed to vote on it. They didn't have time to read it, debate it or make any amendments. Things were jammed through.
Here’s ?@chiproytx? explaining to ?@evanasmith? why he was a no on the emergency coronavirus bill
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 14, 2020
This is all true. I would add: the majority of the text was out the day before. The text that was released late last night had technical changes, for the most part. pic.twitter.com/iei4mO2NqH
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Those “technical” changes involved billions of dollars... and we barely had a chance to fully read it much less debate/amend before voting. Regardless - there are federal mandates on small business that do NOT apply to businesses over 500 employees... among many problems.
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) March 14, 2020
Rep. Jim Banks raised concerns about a "rushed a second short-sighted emergency bill, passed in the middle of the night and behind closed doors, that does more harm than good."
"While there are some good things in the bill, we don't know the final price tag. Some language will mean major harm for small businesses and our economy," Banks said in a statement. "Moreover, it greases the skids for massive bailout packages for industries forced to implement these costly policies. Our national debt is nearing $23.5 trillion--our children's generation can't afford it."
Although Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) refused to vote, he said the reason was because of the excess, non-coronavirus related things that were thrown into the bill.
"Everyone is for testing. Everyone is for medical infrastructure like ventilators. Where Republicans have challenges is where we got legislative provisions that forever change entitlement programs, Gaetz told Fox News' Martha McCallum. "We should not use the coronavirus as an excuse to go and dramatically expand eligibility in the SNAP program, for example."
The coronavirus bill does not need any poison pills.
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) March 14, 2020
We want solutions that are medical infrastructure-focused and testing-focused but that don't re-write entitlements while we're dealing with the coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/8u7OopU6rp
Earlier in the day, Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ) expressed concern over the bill's language, specifically referencing the harm that small businesses would face.
"We'll see how this shakes out in the last iterations, but it's going to harm some small businesses and it may put small businesses right over the edge because they're going to have to offer paid leave," he explained in a video to his constituents. "The first 14 days is going to be unpaid leave for the sickness and then the emergency unpaid leave, anything over 14 days, that business will have to pay them. And that's for every business that has at least one employee. That's where we are, the last iteration that I saw."
We’ve received word that a deal on Speaker Pelosi’s bailout package may have been reached, though I have yet to see text.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) March 13, 2020
In reading the text of previous drafts today, I’ve been concerned with the Speaker’s overreach and the process by which this is being negotiated. pic.twitter.com/WdL0ET0aEP
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) on Thursday sounded the alarm on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desire to jam the bill through.
"Speaker Pelosi is trying to push through a partisan bill on coronavirus funding, which is an important issue that we all care about. The bad thing is she didn't talk to Republicans or the president about it and they're trying to sneak in all these provisions that Democrats want that have nothing to do with the coronavirus and that will cost taxpayers billions of dollars," Lesko said in a video.
Speaker Pelosi dropped a totally partisan coronavirus bill at the eleventh hour and snuck in provisions that have nothing to do with #COVID?19.
— Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (@RepDLesko) March 12, 2020
We all care about fighting this disease, preventing its spread, & protecting Americans. We must put politics aside and work together. pic.twitter.com/I2pJK6D5Ev
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