PITTSBURGH (100.1 FM and AM 1020 KDKA) — U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) took the podium on Wednesday to reproach the COVID-19 stimulus package that has been a hot-button issue as of late.
During Toomey's speech, he criticized measures that he found to be frivolous and not suited to be part of a pandemic relief bill.
And the snarkiness was in full effect during Toomey's address: "$270 million for the National Endowment of the Arts and [National Endowment of the] Humanities: oh, that's COVID related, thank goodness that's there.
"$91 million for outreach to student loan borrowers: I don't even know what that means. $50 million for environmental justice grants: I have no idea what that means.
But this one is really rich: there's about $4 billion for 'socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.' I say 'about $4 billion' because it says 'such funds as may be necessary.' And here's what the money is for: it's going to pay off 120 percent of the debt of these farmers and ranchers. 120 percent."
Beyond the deadpan delivery of his criticism, Toomey brought to light some key issues he found within the bill.
According to Toomey and his office, much of the money in the bill is going to places that don't need the cash flow: "$414 billion [is] for so-called stimulus checks for millions of Americans who never lost income; $350 billion [is] for state and local governments, after record-high revenues in 2020; $86 billion to bail out multi-employer pension plans without any reform; and $45 billion, primarily, to pay insurance companies to cover Americans who already have health insurance."
Toomey left the podium without mincing words on the COVID-19 package.
"There is no justification for this bill. There's no medical justification, there's pandemic justification, there's no economic justification. This isn't about coming together and doing something about a crisis. This is about a partisan, left-wing wish list. And, of course, Republicans aren't interested in that kind of political gesturing that's going to do economic damage."