Still No Checks

While campaigning in Georgia in January, Joe Biden told Georgia voters, “If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency for so many people who are struggling right now.”

It is now March and those $2,000 checks have yet to go out the door or into the bank accounts of any American that is still struggling right now because of the continued Biden economic shut down of our economy and schools.

Imagine how Georgia voters and voters across the nation must now feel thinking that they could trust what Joe Biden said to them by voting for the Democrats to have total control of the government, realizing there are still no $2,000 checks (like President Trump advocated for) and the current $1.9 trillion bill sanctioned by the Biden White House only proposes $1,400 checks.

I was raised to believe that you always honored your word, but that is not the case for the Biden Administration and the Democrats in power right now. They continue to mislead the American people about their intentions and plans regarding the stimulus bill and the reopening of our country.

The Democrat controlled Congress is focused on playing politics rather than doing what is right for Americans that are in need. In D.C. they use the term called “pork barrel spending” when bills are filled with earmarks for special pet projects for Members of Congress’ districts, paid for by all Americans. And that is exactly what this bill is filled with-pork with a $1.9 trillion price tag.

Just look at the issue of reopening schools and the funding that the Democrats in D.C. claim is needed in order to re-open. While I could go into the Biden Administration’s shifting timeline and non-reliance on facts, science and data to re-open public schools, I will focus on the price tag in this new bill.
This bill is asking for the American people to pay an additional $130 billion for our nation’s schools. This is an odd line item when nearly $63 billion in funds for schools remains unspent from the previous legislation.

The Democrats in Congress want us to believe that printing more money will fix all the problems related to this pandemic. While we do need resources to provide for the nation, we should not be wasting money just to make special interest groups like the teacher’s unions happy.

If we are to believe what the Biden Administration says in terms of how dire the situation was and is for the nation, especially in the Black community, then we would expect a bill that is laser focused on fixing the issue at hand, eradicating COVID-19 and getting the economy back on track by lifting these burdensome restrictions that keep people from earning a living.

Some of the things the Democrats have in this bill are just ridiculous because there is no connection to COVID-19 relief for the American people. Our tax dollars would be used to give $1.5 billion to Amtrak, $800 million for global food programs, $135 million to the National Endowment for the Arts, $135 million earmarked for the National Endowment for the Humanities and $200 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences. In fact, only 9% of this so-called “COVID-Relief” package goes directly towards fighting the pandemic.

Speaker Pelosi must be happy that $100 million is earmarked for a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) expansion project in San Francisco, Calif. just outside her district. Her counterpart in the Senate, Chuck Schumer has to be equally as happy with his pet project, the Seaway International Bridge getting $1.5 million. But why would the residents of North Carolina be happy about funding those projects during this pandemic?

Recently, Congressional Progressive Caucus member, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, told CNN that the earmarked projects were “embarrassing” and that he was not comfortable with the pet project spending. He knows he has to face his constituents in New York and explain what his party put in the bill. Subsequently, every Democrat Member of Congress in North Carolina should have to explain the waste to their constituents as well because it shameful.

Congressional Democrats in power have the ability to write and pass a bill that is more responsible and directly addresses the crisis at hand. There is no reason why any new requests for the spending of trillions of taxpayer dollars must be temporary, targeted to those in most need, and directly tied to COVID-19 relief. But they have not done that because that is not their priority when only 9% of the $1.9 trillion bill is going to COVID-19 relief.

While Democrats take care of their pet projects, they fail to care of the needs of American families, workers and small business owners who just want to get back to work and earn a living and ensure their children are learning in school.

Mr. Paris Dennard

Senior Communications Advisor for Black Media Affairs

Republican National Committee
310 First Street SE|Washington, DC 20003
pdennard@gop.com | 805-509-0998
Twitter: @parisdennard