(CNS News) – When asked how many trillion dollars should be spent on the latest coronavirus relief bill – the Republicans want $1 trillion, the Democrats want $3.4 trillion – Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is living on “Fantasy Island” with her costly, deficit-hiking plan.
At the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, CNS News asked Senator Barrasso, “Nancy Pelosi has said that the $1 trillion HEALS Act proposed by Senate Republicans for COVID relief isn’t enough and instead proposed the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act. How many trillion should Congress spend on COVID relief?
The senator responded, “Well, the problem with the Nancy Pelosi Bill -- and there’s many, and I’ve described it as Nancy Pelosi living on Fantasy Island -- is that she has over a trillion dollars of things unrelated to coronavirus at all” in the HEROES Act.
Barrasso said some of the unrelated items in Pelosi’s bill include “bailouts to state pension plans, payoffs to her political cronies, direct checks to illegal immigrants, tax relief what we call a blue state bailout for high earners in California and New York.”
“None of this stuff is related to coronavirus,” he said. “So what she is proposing isn’t going anywhere, and there’s no surprise there.”
In May, under House Speaker Pelosi’s leadership, the House of Representatives passed the $3.4 Trillion HEROES Act. The bill has not passed in the Senate.
On Monday, Senate Republicans unveiled their COVID-19 relief package of roughly $1 trillion, called the HEALS Act. Unlike the bill passed in the House, the Senate GOP bill cuts enhanced unemployment benefits from the current $600 to $200 per week.
The HEALS Act still includes liability protections, a second round of direct payments to Americans, and a second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans for hard-hit small businesses.
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), last year’s budget deficit totaled $984 billion. In April, the CRFB projected that the deficit would be nearly four times as large this year, exceeding $3.8 trillion. As a share of the economy, the deficit was projected to total 18.7 percent of GDP in 2020.
As of June 9, the United States gross federal deficit had surpassed $26 trillion.
Transcript
CNS News: Nancy Pelosi has said that the $1 trillion HEALS Act proposed by Senate Republicans for COVID relief isn’t enough and instead proposed the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act. How many trillion should Congress spend on COVID relief?
Sen. Barrasso: Well, the problem with the Nancy Pelosi Bill, and there’s many, and I’ve described it as Nancy Pelosi living on fantasy island, is that she has over a trillion dollars of things unrelated to coronavirus at all: bailouts to state pension plans, payoffs to her political cronies, direct checks to illegal immigrants, tax relief what we call a blue state bailout for high earners in California and New York. None of this stuff is related to coronavirus. So what she is proposing isn’t going anywhere, and there’s no surprise there. Thanks.
