Sen. Rick Scott: Democrats’ $2 Trillion Spending Disaster

In 2020, Congress took bipartisan action to provide the resources needed to get our nation re-opened and help individuals and small businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Last Saturday, Senate Democrats passed a massive, un-targeted $2 trillion “COVID” spending bill with zero Republican support. The U.S. House of Representatives is now expected to vote on this wasteful and bloated bill this week. 

This 600-page, $2 trillion spending bill devotes less than 10% of its funding to actually fighting COVID, and will raise our national debt from $28 trillion to $30 trillion. Even worse, the American people are completely in the dark about how much of the nearly $1 trillion has been unspent from the previous package. The devastating impacts of this spending package hurt America’s poorest families the most, and the Biden Administration has no plan to address the fallout. 

Congress must do better. That’s why Senator Scott has taken several steps to provide transparency to the American people, whose money and financial stability is on the table. Senator Scott will keep working to make sure Congress is helping those truly in need, while remaining accountable to the hardworking taxpayers. 

Learn more about how Senator Scott is fighting to provide targeted relief to American families below.

The Democrats’ $1.9 trillion spending package is an untargeted shell filled with liberal wishes:

• Another $1.9 trillion in spending will raise the national debt to nearly $30 trillion, which will raise inflation and hurt our nation’s poorest families the most.
• Less than one percent of the bill is dedicated to vaccine-related activities and programs – the thing most critical to beating this pandemic.
• $350 billion goes to bailout wasteful, liberal states for their decades of excess, even though budgets and revenues are up. Congress has already allocated roughly $400 billion for state and local governments to handle this crisis.
• $40 billion goes to colleges – regardless of whether they are open or have demonstrated a need for relief. Congress already allocated $37 billion to colleges in previous relief bills.
• More than a third of all spending in the Democrats’ bill, including more than 90 percent of the K-12 school funding, would not be spent this fiscal year

Senator Scott wants targeted relief to those individuals and small businesses impacted by the pandemic, but President Biden’s proposal is filled with progressive pipe dreams and wasteful spending that will ultimately hurt American families.

Senator Rick Scott said, “For nearly a year, my focus has been on finding bipartisan solutions that provide targeted relief and deal directly with the economic and health impact of COVID-19. I talk to Floridians every day whose families or businesses have been hurt by this pandemic. They need and deserve relief and that’s what we should be doing – but that’s not what the Democrats want. They can’t help themselves but try to use this crisis to pass their liberal priorities that would have no chance standing on their own.

“The waste in the Democrats’ bill is blatant and obvious. Think about this – less than 10 percent of the Democrats’ massive spending bill actually goes toward fighting COVID-19 and just one percent is dedicated to vaccine programs and initiatives. That is crazy. Even more shameful is that the rest is full of wasteful, unrelated nonsense that falls woefully short of the targeted relief American families need. Let’s not forget that Congress just approved a $900 billion COVID relief bill – much of which remains unspent. As Democrats prioritize their progressive pipe dreams over the needs of American families, I’ll keep working to make sure we are helping those truly in need, while remaining accountable to the hardworking taxpayers whose money and financial stability is on the table.”