Biden's $1.9T coronavirus relief bill is 'Trojan horse,' will use as 'slush fund' to buy votes: Rep. Nunes
The House passed the relief bill with a vote of 219-212 on Saturday
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill is a Trojan horse that the Democrat will use as a slush fund to buy votes over the next four years, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes said Sunday.
Nunes, R-Calif., told "Sunday Morning Futures" anchor Maria Bartiromo that the proposal, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed with a vote early Saturday, has "very little to do with COVID relief."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This is a slush fund in order to buy votes that Biden can use over the next four years," Nunes said. "It's a Trojan horse with $2 trillion in it so they can build things like a goofy high-speed rail that they haven't even completed."
Nunes was referring to a high-speed rail project in California that was granted billions of dollars over a decade ago under an Obama-era stimulus program during the 2009 recession.
He likened that project to the current proposal’s inclusion of more than $100 million for an underground rail project in Silicon Valley that would expand the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) underneath San Jose.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think the American people know that doesn't have anything to do with COVID relief," Nunes said.
The House passed its version of the relief proposal with a vote of 219-212 around 2 a.m. Saturday.
No Republicans backed the bill and two Democrats – U.S. Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon – voted against their party’s plan.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has derided the nearly $2 trillion proposal as "Pelosi’s Payoff Bill," noting that "the amount of money that actually goes to defeating the virus is less than 9 percent."
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The proposal contains a third $1,400 stimulus check for Americans earning less than $75,000 annually, increases jobless benefits to $400 a week through the end of August, expands the child tax credit to up to $3,600 per child, includes $350 billion for state and local government funding and allocates $170 billion for K-12 schools and higher education institutions to cover reopening costs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tucked into the House bill was also the Democrat’s plan to gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025 – an effort many Republicans rejected.
Fox News' Dom Calicchio, Chad Pergram and Megan Henney contributed to this report.