Washington Examiner: Republicans Answer Biden Call For Cuts To COVID-19 Spending Bill — But Is He Listening?

If Democrats were interested in compromise, they would have included more than one GOP amendment in their corrupt COVID package. 

Instead they are ramming through a nearly $2 trillion socialist boondoggle that spends 91% of the money on items not linked to COVID-relief.

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Republicans Answer Biden Call For Cuts To COVID-19 Spending Bill — But Is He Listening?

Naomi Lim

Washington Examiner

February 24, 2021

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/biden-republicans-covid-bill-cuts

It was a rhetorical question, but Republicans are happily taking President Biden up on his offer to propose cuts to his $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending package. Biden, though, does not seem to be listening to their suggestions.

Biden is being squeezed from opposite ends of the Democratic Party, represented by socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and centrist West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, as he pushes his “American Rescue Plan” through Congress. Despite promising to be a president for all people, he is using his political capital to corral Democrats since they can pass a measure without Republicans thanks to the budgetary process known as reconciliation. And for that to work, Biden has to keep all 50 senators who caucus with Democrats onside.

That approach, however, could result in a bill with a too-hefty price tag as the House prepares to clear its version of Biden’s proposal this weekend, according to Lanhee Chen, policy director for Mitt Romney’s 2012 Republican presidential campaign.

“The package would be much more effective and responsible if it were targeted to those who need assistance rather than as a spending bonanza,” Chen said.

With some coronavirus-related benefits set to expire on March 14, Biden on Monday addressed critics who have complained that the “American Rescue Plan” is “too big.” “Let me ask a rhetorical question: What would you have me cut? What would you leave out?” Biden said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki then claimed Biden was not restarting negotiations: He was simply making the point “that the size of the package is a reflection of the size of the crisis.”

For Chen, the Biden-House Democratic provision of $350 billion for state and local governments is an example of wasteful spending. Yet state and local governments argue that they need more help than the $125 billion agreed to last December and the $150 billion last March because they are required to balance their budgets.

“On average, state and local tax receipts haven’t fallen off nearly as much as expected and, in some states — like California — revenues are actually higher than anticipated,” Chen said. “I don’t think it makes sense to now spend hundreds of billions of dollars (on top of what’s already been spent) to bail out states that have engaged in bad fiscal practices in the years leading up to the pandemic.”

One of the most divisive issues is a provision Biden and House Democrats are advocating for that would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2025, a reform championed by Sanders. As the Senate parliamentarian weighs whether the change can even be included in the final bill under the chamber’s rules, Manchin has counteroffered hiking the minimum wage to $11 an hour in two years. Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Romney of Utah have also co-sponsored separate legislation to increase it to $10 by 2025, along with mandating that employers ensure the wages go to “legally authorized workers” through the federal government’s E-Verify website.

As laid out in a document shared with the Washington Examiner, other Republican sticking points included $10 billion to improve cybersecurity and $5 billion to incentivize state investment in clean energy and energy efficiency projects.

Republicans have objections, too, to the Biden-House Democratic provision of $129 billion for K-12 schools to assist with reopenings. That is because, they say, $60 billion of that would be appropriated for fiscal years 2024-2028, citing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

“What the Biden administration is really trying to do here is use the crisis of COVID and school closures to forward fund teacher union priorities for the next five years,” said one Republican staffer. “The real reason why they want to pass this legislation as soon as possible is because it presents their best opportunity to deliver the goods to their biggest donor constituency, the unions, without Republican input.”

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Read the full article in the Washington Examiner, here.