Following Saturday’s historic vote in the Senate to approve the American Rescue Plan, DSCC Chair Gary Peters and DNC Chair Jaime Harrison hosted a virtual press conference Monday afternoon along with Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler and Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz to discuss Senate Republicans – including vulnerable incumbents Ron Johnson and Marco Rubio – voting against the urgently needed and overwhelmingly popular relief package. While Democrats worked tirelessly to fulfill their promise of delivering new resources as quickly as possible to beat this pandemic and provide economic relief, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans unanimously opposed the American Rescue Plan.
“Senate Republicans who opposed the American Rescue Plan will be held accountable for this vote,” said DSCC Chair Gary Peters. “In the middle of an ongoing pandemic, they voted against putting relief checks in people’s pockets, against expanding vaccine access, against helping our schools safely reopen faster, against extending emergency unemployment insurance, and against rescuing our small businesses. Republican senators are going to have to explain that opposition to voters in 2022, and they’re going to have a tough time defending that vote.”
“Every single Senate Republican voted against President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, an overwhelmingly popular bill that will put money directly into the pockets of families who need it the most,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “It’s shameful, and folks like Ron Johnson and Marco Rubio are going to have to explain to their constituents, who have bills to pay and children to feed, why they voted against helping them. Soon President Biden will sign into law one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in modern American history. And voters will never forget who stood up for them during this unprecedented time, and who stood in the way.”
“By doing everything in his power to block urgently needed relief for Wisconsin families, Senator Ron Johnson has earned the title of the number one opponent of middle class and working class relief,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler. “Thanks to Democratic leadership in the Senate, including our own Senator Tammy Baldwin, who joined all the Democrats in the Senate to vote yes, we’ll be able to deliver critical funding for vaccine distribution, unemployment benefits, $1,400 dollar survival checks for American families, we’ll be able to cut child poverty in half in our country and get on the path towards ending this pandemic and building back better.”
“The Latino community in Florida has been hit extremely hard by COVID and while Senator Rubio loves to talk about how much he cares about our community, he turns around and does things like vote against the American Rescue Plan,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz. “As the former mayor of Miami and a Cuban American, I can tell you firsthand that Senator Rubio does not have the best interests of the Latino community in mind. If he did he would have voted yes on a plan that expands access to the ACA and lowers premiums for families in the middle of this pandemic. He would have voted yes on a plan that extends unemployment insurance and puts money directly in people’s pockets. He would have voted yes on a plan that extends relief to small businesses to prevent them from going under.”
Senate Republicans voted against a relief package that will:
The American people across party lines support this plan:
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