The Senate is currently negotiating the Democrat-proposed COVID relief package that was passed by the House of Representatives, with a hefty price tag of nearly $2 trillion. Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration back the legislation that is filled with "pork" spending line-items completely unrelated to pandemic relief.
Republican lawmakers in both chambers have voiced opposition to the passage of the package as written, and favor more targeted relief that does not appease Democrats' "liberal wish list."
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) offered harsh criticism of the Democrats' proposal, arguing that President Biden walked back his promise to "meet Republicans halfway."
“He’s [Biden] rejected everything we’ve proposed. This bill is dreadful. The only way I know how to improve it is with a shredder. It's not even a coronavirus bill. Calling this a coronavirus bill is like calling Harvey Weinstein a feminist. It’s chocked-full of spending porn," Kennedy said on Fox News. "Billions of dollars to states and local governments that have seen their revenues go up, billions of dollars to pension programs, billions of dollars to schools with no requirement that they reopen…”
President Biden’s $2,000,000,000,000 coronavirus bill is an orgy of pork. Calling it a coronavirus bill is like calling Harvey Weinstein a feminist. We can do better. pic.twitter.com/pm20fIyMse
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) March 4, 2021
The Senate is expected to take up the legislation on Thursday. A few Republican lawmakers are hoping to force a "full reading" of the bill in order to expose the unnecessary spending.
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