GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stopped short of calling the new COVID relief bill criminal. But he did say it was "corrupt." According to the data, only 9 percent of the funds in the $1.9 trillion plan are going toward actual coronavirus health spending. The rest is saved for special interests, particularly progressive interests. Millions are going to Planned Parenthood, union pensions. Another $100 million is going toward San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system.
As Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) recently asked, "Who said a subway to Silicon Valley has anything to do with COVID?"
"It's just unbelievable," McCarthy told Fox Businesses anchor Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures." "This thing is just so corrupt, so costly. And you look at it, it's so liberal."
And this, after President Biden called for "unity" in his inaugural speech."The Biden administration's become the most partisan administration in modern history," McCarthy noted. "Think for one moment. We still have a trillion dollars sitting out there that those be appropriated sent to the economy. The money in this bill for schools, 95% of it won't even go out this fiscal year. two-thirds of it won't go out of until 2023. I mean, the real focus here should be putting back to work, back to school, and back to health. This bill does not do it."
Even Democrats like Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY) admitted that they're "not comfortable" with this kind of spending.
There's no time (or money) to waste.
"With kids being out of school, we find depression, suicide, anxiety, in my own district," McCarthy warned. "We could redirect the money to be spent there. Every single Democrat voted no on that."
The Senate will take up Biden's partisan COVID bill this week. Rep. Scalise prefers to call it the "Payoff to Progressives Act."