Senate Republicans are gearing up to spend today voting to delay and obstruct coronavirus relief at a time when every member of the chamber should be working to pass this legislation, proving once again they are unfit to govern and more focused on partisan stunts than delivering help to the American people. Led by their toxic Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and disgraced NRSC Chair Rick Scott, Senate Republicans are plotting out a series of votes designed to delay the urgent work of passing needed pandemic relief to hardworking families across the country. The GOP’s delays come at a time when more than 450,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, more than 26 million Americans have been infected, and millions more have lost their jobs, seen their small businesses close, or had their lives forever changed.
“The GOP’s continued obstruction of adequate coronavirus relief for hardworking families is exactly what we’ve seen from Republicans for nearly a year, it’s one reason why the virus spiraled out of control on their watch, and it’s why they are no longer in charge of the Senate,” said DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss. “Mitch McConnell, Rick Scott and Senate Republicans are showing today they are still more focused on their own politics than providing people who are in need with the support to get through this public health and economic emergency.”
The American Rescue Plan includes a number of critical provisions: a new round of direct relief checks, billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments, essential funding for vaccine distribution and testing, boosts to programs supporting small businesses and unemployed workers, and much more. While Senate Republicans object to the budget reconciliation process today, they used the exact same legislative tools in 2017 to enact a massive tax giveaway to the rich and giant corporations and try to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
There is broad public support across party lines for Democrats’ relief plan: nearly seven in 10 Americans support President Biden and Senate Democrats’ bill, three-fourths of Americans support additional direct relief checks, and a bipartisan group of over 400 Republican and Democratic mayors has urged Congress to pass this plan and take immediate action to give their communities the assistance they desperately need. Despite the overwhelming support for this package meeting the scale of our public health and economic crisis, self-interested and out of touch Republicans in the Senate are prioritizing petty stunts as they actively work to undermine the passage of additional relief.
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