The AP released an explosive new investigation showing how the Democrats’ “American Rescue Plan” – billed as life-saving COVID relief spending – is being spent on wasteful projects that have nothing to do with fighting the pandemic.
Associated Press: Pandemic relief money spent on hotel, ballpark, ski slopes
Senate Democrats voted to allow this, and they own it. Not only did every single Senate Democrat vote *for* the American Rescue Plan, every single Senate Democrat voted against an amendment from Senator Romney to limit payments from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund to “necessary expenditures… due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.” The amendment failed on a party-line vote, allowing wasteful projects in the AP report to move forward.
At the time, Senator Romney rightly said “I’m concerned that under the plan, many states that had no revenue loss or no deficit as a result of COVID and no unreimbursed COVID expenses that they nonetheless are going to get billions and billions of dollars… The states that don’t feel pain, we shouldn’t be sending them billions of dollars that we’re borrowing for our kids to have to pay back.”
But that’s exactly what happened. California, for example – already flush with a $25.3 billion budget surplus – received an additional $40 billion from the ARP.
Even liberal economists have concluded the excessive spending in the ARP overheated the economy and worsened inflation. Earlier this month, Obama’s chief economist Jason Furman “estimated that the rescue plan was responsible for about 2.5 percentage points” of inflation – which reached 7.9% over the last year. Larry Summers said ARP was “a serious error” that “set the stage for the inflation.” And Obama economic advisor Steven Rattner said that the American Rescue plan has “contributed materially to today’s inflation levels” and called the $1.9 trillion spending plan the “original sin.”
Now as congressional Democrats say billions more is needed for COVID relief, it’s clear they are using the pandemic as a pretext to fund pork barrel projects and liberal wish list items that have absolutely nothing to do with tests, vaccines, or masks.
“Democrats always say ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ – so they used the pandemic as a pretext to fund millions in wasteful pork barrel projects. Senate Democrats continue to demonstrate the only way to stop their reckless spending is to take away their majority – so that’s what we’re going to do in November.” -SLF Communications Director Jack Pandol