Friday, Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) said that he voted against the Democratic stimulus bill that passed the U.S. House of Representative because he could find no justification for the $3 trillion cost of the proposed stimulus bill.
“As you may recall, Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion bill known as the Heroes Act two weeks ago,” Rep. Aderholt stated. “This bill was nothing short of a liberal wish list that was dreamed up behind closed doors by Nancy Pelosi, and other liberal Democrats, with zero Republican input. It was three times larger than the entire New Deal of the Great Depression, even adjusted for inflation. Now, that bill is in the Senate, and thankfully it has no chance of passing that chamber and becoming law.”
“One of the many reasons I voted against this bill is that I felt we needed to see if the stimulus bills we had already passed were having an impact,” Aderholt said. “I didn’t feel there was any justification for spending a whopping $3 trillion more before we had some economic numbers. We now have those numbers and it’s clear those early stimulus bills are having a big impact.”
Unemployment actually dropped from May to April, according to the latest job report from the U.S. Labor Department and the stock market has recovered from its March to April crash. The S&P 500 was at 3,207 at press time (only 163 points down from its February 14 record high, after plunging to 2237 on March 18.
Aderholt is predicting that there will be a fourth stimulus; but it will be more modest than the Democratic plan that passed the House.
“Senate Majority Leader McConnell has said that a fourth and final stimulus is likely to be voted on in the month of July, and it will get rid of many outrageous items that were included in the House bill,” Aderholt said. “It’s reported that the Senate will focus on boosting jobs, providing relief to schools, and providing relief to small businesses. And it won’t cost taxpayers $3 trillion! This is great news, and when more information is made public about this legislation in the Senate, I will keep you updated.”
“Our economic comeback is just beginning. But even in these early days of our careful reopening, the American people are already trouncing expert predictions and starting to come back strong,” Senate Majority Leader\ McConnell said. “The CARES Act, which Senate Republicans wrote in March and which passed both houses of Congress unanimously, has been essential. With the country on the line, the Senate built the largest rescue package in American history and sent emergency money to American families, healthcare providers, and small businesses.”
“Because of the Paycheck Protection Program from Senators Susan Collins and Marco Rubio, tens of millions of Americans have kept receiving paychecks instead of pink-slips during this emergency, and millions of small businesses have lived to see the reopening instead of closing their doors forever,” McConnell stated. “The start of our recovery would look radically different without the Senate’s bold policy.”
“This crisis is not over. COVID-19 still plagues our country,” McConnell continued. “Millions of Americans are still out of work. Families don’t know what life will look like in the fall. As Senate Republicans have made clear for weeks, future efforts must be laser-focused on helping schools reopen safely in the fall, helping American workers continue to get back on the job, and helping employers reopen and grow. We must keep the wind in our sails, not slam the brakes with left-wing policies that would make rehiring even harder and recovery even more challenging.”
The forced economic shutdown was implemented in the days after March 12 to stop the spread of the novel strain of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. Even with that unprecedented economic disruption, COVID-19 global pandemic has still killed 114,159 Americans as of early Wednesday morning. While the economy is rapidly reopening, the virus remains a clear and present danger, 19,056 Americans were diagnosed on Wednesday alone.
Robert Aderholt is in his twelfth term representing Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
