These Are a Handful of Garbage Items Tossed into the COVID Relief Bill

Congress is expected to vote on the second Wuhan coronavirus relief package that is tied to the omnibus spending bill. There have been complaints – and very valid ones at that – about members of Congress and their staff not having enough time to read the text of the more than 5,000 page document.

We have frequently been told about the small portion of the bill that addresses the pandemic, like $300 a week in unemployment benefits and another round of direct pay stimulus checks. Instead of being $1,200 per adult and $500 per child, there is a flat rate of $600 per person, with no distinction between whether they are an adult or a child. The bill also includes funding for schools, health care workers and vaccine distribution. Another round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans are also part of this bill.

That begs the question: what is in the bill that is not tied to the pandemic? Here are just a few:

Climate change is referenced multiple times throughout the bill.

The Covid relief bill lays the groundwork for a “Climate Security Advisory Council” pic.twitter.com/DK66scA970
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 21, 2020

Some highlights of garbage in the COVID relief bill.

Invasive Species assessment, mitigation and reductions. Price tag: $130,000,000 (pp 1594) pic.twitter.com/Ci5lReStU1
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) December 22, 2020

Apparently Congress is worried about "water resources on the Tibetan Plateau." No price tag is associated with this, from what I can see. pic.twitter.com/RwMqn3maIC
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) December 22, 2020

Wait. It looks like it's $1,00,000. And there's a scholarship too. pic.twitter.com/oBLPhNk4N6
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) December 22, 2020

There is also quite a bit of funding for other countries.

Section 136 of CR provides funding for the Executive Office of the President to provide administrative support for a Presidential transition: "amounts are provided to 'Presidential Transition Administrative Support’' at a rate for operations of $8,000,000."
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) September 21, 2020

But hey, at least Congress will benefit from this bill, right?

Congress is setting aside money in its COVID-19 stimulus program to pay the added pandemic expenses inside its own US Senate daycare center pic.twitter.com/mQieVPpLuH
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) December 21, 2020

This is prime example of why so many people cannot stand politics or politicians. Americans want to feel as though their elected officials have their best interest at heart. It is hard to make that argument when there is unnecessary crap in a bill that is supposed to supposedly help people through the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. This bill is nothing more than a bunch of special interests thrown into one and sprinkled with COVID relief. There are more than 5,000 pages to this bill and yet how many items do we hear about? Maybe 5 to 10 pages worth, if that?

If Congress actually wanted to get things done and help the American people, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer would have been willing to work with Republicans before the presidential election. They would have passed a single bill that focused solely on the virus and relief for individuals and businesses instead of tossing it into the omnibus bill.