‘We cannot continue to push through rapid-fire spending packages that leave a massive debt burden on our children and grandchildren…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Four outspoken fiscal conservatives were among those who opposed the $484-billion spending package the House passed on Thursday.
Congress now has committed almost $3 trillion in emergency spending to battling the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
But GOP Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Jody Hice of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky argued that the uncontrollable spending and protracted economic shutdown are not sustainable.
“We cannot continue to push through rapid-fire spending packages that leave a massive debt burden on our children and grandchildren,” Buck said in a statement.
The legislation, signed into law by President Donald Trump on Friday, will provide additional funding for the Small Business Administration’s Personal Paycheck Program, which ran out of funds last week.
The PPP is geared toward businesses with fewer than 500 employees, incentivizing them to keep workers on the payroll by extending forgivable loans of up to $10 million.
But the latest $484-billion appropriation is little more than a temporary Band-Aid, according to the Republican congressmen who opposed it.
“We are engaged in a bipartisan bankruptcy of this country,” Buck said. “We will not heal our communities and put an end to this crisis by throwing trillions of dollars at an economy chained by a government-mandated quarantine.”
He said Congress should absolutely support “struggling small businesses, workers, and healthcare providers,” but that the best way to do that is by reopening the economy—not by throwing money at the problem.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., also voted against the package, while Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., voted “present.”
The next package—the fifth of its kind since the economic shutdown—will likely require even more small-business funding, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Supporters are already warning that the business-backed Payroll Protection Program will exhaust the new $250 billion almost immediately.