Biden’s COVID relief bill is a ‘neo-socialist wish list’: John Kennedy
Sen. John Kennedy says that the $2 trillion COVID relief bill is filled with unnecessary spending unrelated to coronavirus.
Sen. John Kennedy R-LA., blasted President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill Wednesday, calling it "chock-full of spending porn" unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic.
"This isn’t a coronavirus bill," Kennedy said on "America’s Newsroom." "This is a left-of-Lenin, neo-socialist wish list."
Kennedy asserted that the Biden administration’s "infantile" approach to spending money is likely to continue after passing the coronavirus bill, with the introduction of a $3 trillion green energy bill.
"The objective is not to spend money – it’s not how much you spend, it’s what you spend it on," Kennedy said.
HANNITY: COVID AID BILL IS BOTH SOCIALIST 'WISH LIST' AND 'BAILOUT' TO DEMOCRAT-RUN STATES
A large portion of the funding for the coronavirus relief bill would not be spent until 2022 and beyond. Kennedy added that the bill contains funding for transit projects, language preservation, and billions of dollars for people who have entered the country illegally.
Many conservatives and moderate Democrats have criticized some aspects of the bill, including $1,400 stimulus checks going to mixed-status families with undocumented immigrants; allowing Planned Parenthood to receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds designed to keep small businesses afloat; and nearly $600 million for additional emergency paid family leave for federal employees and U.S. Postal Service workers, according to the RSC memo.
As an example of what Kennedy considered mismanaged spending, he pointed to the allocation of $70 billion for K-12 school funding. Only $4 billion of the $70 billion has been spent with hundreds of billions more proposed to be sent to schools in the COVID relief bill, which is likely not to be fully spent until 2024.
Some Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema,, D-Ariz., have signaled they might not back the required $15 minimum wage in the bill, which jeopardizes the Democrat simple majority.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, criticized the bill for a third of its funds not being uused until 2024 and the inclusion of unnecessary expenses.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says he expects the bill will be passed in the Senate by March 14.
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report.
