Washington, DC – Congressman Andy Barr (KY-06) released a statement following his vote today in opposition to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan socialist wish-list, otherwise known as the “Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act”:
“This legislation is a hyper-partisan, left-wing, socialist wish-list crafted behind closed doors by a handful of Democrat Committee Chairmen and unelected staffers that is largely and embarrassingly unrelated to the present novel coronavirus pandemic,” said Congressman Barr. “It is outrageous that with Americans suffering and dying from the COVID-19 virus, homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, workers losing their jobs and our heroic healthcare workers putting their lives on the line, that House Democrats are focused on changing election laws, bailing out mismanaged state and local governments from pre-COVID liabilities, and restoring a tax deduction for blue state millionaires and billionaires.”
“Instead of an ideological abomination that would add trillions of dollars more to the national debt, we need to reopen our economy and allow Americans to safely go back to work,” Barr continued. “The government cannot sustainably respond to this national emergency - or any emergency – unless and until we have taxpayers who are working. And we cannot defeat this virus unless we utilize the innovation and creativity of a productive private sector.”
Congressman Barr previously supported four legislative packages in response to the coronavirus outbreak which passed the U.S. Congress with broad bipartisan support. These bills include the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act on March 4, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on March 14, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 27, and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act on April 23. Together, these pieces of legislation appropriated nearly $3 trillion in emergency relief to American families, workers, businesses, hospitals, healthcare workers, and state and local governments.