Ernst blasts Democrats? $1.9 trillion pandemic bill

by | Mar 3, 2021 | 5 Ag Stories, News

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst is urging Iowans to ?read the fine print? when it comes to the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed by House Democrats last week.

Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, Ernst said she feels Democrats are ?back to their old spending habits? and claimed that the House COVID relief package ?has absolutely nothing to do with COVID.?

?Democrats have shown no interest in working with Republicans and are instead fast tracking this highly partisan bill through Congress,? Ernst said. ?The bulk of this budget-busting bill is devoted to fulfilling a wish list of longtime liberal priorities including billion-dollar bailouts, progressive program expansions, and pricey partisan pet projects.?

Senator Chuck Grassley this week called out House leadership after they stripped Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra?s provision from the aid package. The provision would have provided support to farmers who suffered crop losses from last year?s derecho and other high windstorms.

Senator Ernst noted much of the House bill had millions of dollars dedicated to a Seaway International Bridge connecting New York to Canada and $140 million to a subway in Silicon Valley in California.

?I am hopeful that when this bill comes before the Senate that my Democrat colleagues will actually work with us to cut the pork and refocus the bill on what it should be focused on ? the immediate needs of the COVID pandemic,? Ernst said. ?Not a fancy subway, not a bridge to Canada, and certainly not wealthy state bailouts.?

Reports say efforts to have a minimum wage increase included the pandemic bill were all but dead on Monday as Senate leadership began debating its own version of the aid package.