TOPLINE: This week, the House will vote on a $1.9 trillion package where less than 9% of their bill goes to public health and combatting COVID-19. Instead of working with House Republicans to build a bipartisan relief package that helps struggling workers and small businesses and works to opens schools immediately, President Biden and House Democrats prioritized a far-left wish list that prioritizes bailing out Speaker Pelosi’s hometown of San Francisco over American families’ needs.

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$1 Trillion Has Yet to Be Spent To combat COVID-19, Congress has authorized nearly $4 trillion in spending over the past year to help address the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. However, only $3 trillion in previous COVID relief funding has been spent.  

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Pelosi's San Francisco Giveaway The Senate amended version of this package contains numerous provisions unrelated to COVID that will keep schools closed, pay people not to work, and bail out blue states. This embodies everything wrong with their socialist agenda. Why should the American people pick up the tab for poorly managed cities, like San Francisco, where community leaders spent up to $150 million of state funds to help buy alcohol and cannabis for the local homeless population? Under Democrats' spending bill, taxpayers from across the country will have to pay for the terrible decision-making of San Francisco. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer rejected all Republican efforts to advance bipartisan solutions, like safely reopening schools and speeding up vaccine distribution, that is targeted, temporary, and tied to COVID relief. What’s in the $1.9 Trillion Package?

• Authorizes approximately $130 billion to schools without any guarantee that schools provide the option of in-person instruction for America’s school children.
  • According to CBO, 95% of the money for schools won’t be spent until after 2021 - slowing down getting kids back in school.
  • Nearly all of the $68 billion obligated to K-12 schools remains available from previous relief packages to support reopening schools and could be utilized immediately.
• Includes the establishment and funding of the “Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund” which allows certain federal bureaucrats up to 15 weeks of paid leave, up to $1,400 a week, for various reasons including if their child has the option or is required to participate in virtual learning.
• Less than 9% of the $1.9 trillion plan goes to combatting COVID-19 through public health spending such as national vaccination program, tracking, and more testing.
• Multiple pro-life concerns in the package:
  • Fails to include Hyde protections to prevent taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions.
  • Requires taxpayers to subsidize health plans that potentially cover elective abortions.
  • Changes PPP affiliation rules for non-profits to allow Planned Parenthood to receive funding.
• Codifies numerous partisan priorities, including duplicative rental assistance to funnel money toward non-COVID purposes and restarts the ineffective Obama-era State Small Business Credit Initiative.
• Includes a $350 billion bailout for blue states.
• Includes $300 a week federal unemployment through September.
• Despite projections for economic growth, the legislation provides a third round of stimulus checks which will include households that have experienced little or no financial loss during the pandemic.
• Illegal immigrants would be eligible for some benefits included in the package.
• Expands expensive and ineffective health coverage policies that further disincentive work.

Reopen Schools Now It has been nearly one year since our students have been in the classroom full-time for in-person learning. Data shows that failure rates have increased and that students are falling behind in essential subjects like reading and math. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data from last fall show that in-person learning, with proper health and safety measures in place, has not contributed to the substantial community spread of COVID-19. With the right tools in place, students across the nation can get back into the classroom for safe, in-person instruction. However, President Biden is afraid to stand up to teacher unions. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson introduced the Reopen Schools Act to ensure that the $54.3 billion Congress appropriated in February is prioritized to meet the expenses of reopening for in-person learning. This legislation would dock schools that aren't open for in-person learning by reducing the amount of federal money they would receive. House Democrats have blocked her legislation SIXTY times. Every House Democrat must be asked why they voted against funding to reopen schools now, and why they are following the unions, not the science. Additionally, House Democrats must provide answers to families of children with disabilities who are disproportionately impacted by these harmful and unnecessary school closures. Republican Whip and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Scalise, along with House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Comer, House Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member Foxx, and House Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member McMorris Rodgers called for a bipartisan investigation to ensure students’ needs are met and federal law is followed.

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BOTTOM LINE: President Biden is not looking to deliver bipartisan COVID-19 relief. He’s looking to use taxpayer money to bail out his socialist allies in California and in New York. Democrats should stop using a public health crisis to ram through their unrelated liberal agenda and focus on helping those who actually need it and join Republicans in efforts to safely reopen our businesses and schools.