https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2020/03/27/ted-cruz-explains-the-vote-on-the-relief-bill-and-what-we-can-expect-now-that-its-passed/(video in link)
Ted Cruz Explains the Vote on the Relief Bill and What We Can Expect Now That It’s Passed
Posted at 10:15 am on March 27, 2020 by Brandon Morse
Ted Cruz Explains the Vote on the Relief Bill and What We Can Expect Now That It's Passed
Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks as Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt, and Department of Transportation Inspector General Calvin Scovel appear before a Senate Transportation subcommittee hearing on commercial airline safety, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 27, 2019, in Washington. Two recent Boeing 737 MAX crashes, in Ethiopia and Indonesia, which killed nearly 350 people, have lead to the temporary grounding of models of the aircraft and to increased scrutiny of the FAA’s delegation of a number of aspects of the certification process to the aircraft manufacturers themselves. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz talked about the relief bill that was passed in the Senate on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.” He was joined by the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles and got into the nitty-gritty of what the Senate voted on.
According to the Daily Wire, Cruz first explained why the bill was so late in being passed:
“Everybody thought we were going to vote on this Sunday night,” the senator explained. “[A]bout a dozen Democrats were part of the negotiating teams — they had all been active, engaged. And we thought we were going to take it up Sunday and get it passed.”
Then, said Cruz, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “came in at the last minute and she threw a hand grenade in. She began making all of these completely unrelated, partisan demands.”
Cruz said that most of the demands Pelosi was holding the bill hostage over are gone but acknowledged that the results of what things did say are “complicated.” He also acknowledged that the bill was a “crap ton of money” but that everyone felt the “urgency to provide relief”:
“Two trillion dollars is a crap ton of money,” Cruz underscored. “That’s 10% of our national debt — not of our deficit, 10% of our national debt. In over two centuries, we just spent 10% of it tonight… It’s worth pausing to think that was unanimous. That means Bernie Sanders voted for it, I voted for it, everybody in between voted for it. And what I would say is the reason is: these are not normal times.”
“This crisis is extraordinary,” he continued. “The health crisis is extraordinary. People are scared. We’ve got a global pandemic. But not only the health crisis, but the response to the health crisis has created an economic disaster that is unfolding. There are millions of people losing their jobs. And in response to that devastation, everyone feels an urgency to provide relief.”
The Daily Wire noted that Cruz does not consider this a “stimulus bill” but a “relief bill,” noting it’s “quite different” from stimulus bills of the past. He then explained what was in the bill and what it means for us:
Cruz then unpacked what exactly is in the “monstrous bill,” including “individual relief”: Every American who makes under $100,000 a year will get a check from the federal government within two to three weeks ($1,200 per individual adult, $2,400 per for couples, and $500 per child).
Another major piece of the bill is $377 billion dedicated to help small businesses (most businesses with 500 employees or less) through emergency loans. These businesses can go and apply at local banks to receive a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan of up to $10 million. If the business uses the money for payroll, the loan obligation is forgiven.
“’That’s a direct lifeline to these small businesses that are profoundly hurting,” said Cruz.
Many have voiced anger over the fact that the bill features millions of dollars set aside for things that have nothing to do with helping the American people during the pandemic. One such part is the $350 million set aside for immigrants and refugees.
(READ: Pelosi Takes Opportunity to Force $350 Million for Refugees Into Relief Bill With Lawmaker’s Backs Against the Wall)
It can easily be understood why Republicans would pass a bill with so much nonsensical spending in the situation they’re currently in. This is, as Cruz said, not a normal time and the pressure to expedite a bill designed to help the American people in a time of crisis was on them heavily. People were becoming angry about the bill not passing and now that it is passed, people are angry about what’s in it. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.
It’s fair to dislike a lot of what’s in the bill and even be angry that something like that passed. That said, if anyone deserves the blame for the additional spending, it’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who took advantage of a crisis to push social engineering while everyone’s backs were against a wall.
Topic: Cruz on the relief bill (Read 1001 times)