Ahhh, Pennsylvania. A commonwealth filled with rolling mountains, bustling cities, miles of golden farmland, and as of late, a whole lot of shameless Republican hypocrites. Though PA Reps. Mike Kelly and Glenn Thompson voted against the American Rescue Plan – which ramped up vaccine distribution, helped safely reopen schools, and got millions of Americans back to work – both Kelly and Thompson are now trying to claim credit for the same funding they vehemently opposed. 

Let’s take a deep dive into their hypocrisy, shall we? 

Pennsylvania Capital-Star: These Pa. Republicans opposed the Biden stimulus; then touted it back home | Tuesday Morning Coffee

Give it up for Erie’s very own hometown hypocrite, Rep. Mike Kelly! 

• “At first blush, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine doesn’t look like some flaming hotbed of liberalism … And last month, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th District, was only too happy to trumpet that the school, just one of two in Pennsylvania, was the recipient of a $2.2 million, ‘Kelly-backed grant,’ that would ‘aid healthcare workers during the pandemic.’”
   
• “Great cause, right? So where’d the money come from? If you guessed the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan package, give yourself a star. And if you guessed that Kelly opposed the COVID relief bill and dismissed it as being packed with ‘left-wing projects,’  give yourself one more star. And, if you guessed on top of that, that the veteran Erie pol backed a failed effort to topple Biden’s Pennsylvania victory in 2020, take the rest of the day off.”

And don’t forget Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson…

• “Next door to Kelly, U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, whose 15th District sprawls across the rural north-central part of the state, posted a press release to his official website last month urging local fire companies to apply for a $46 million grant program that received an injection of pandemic relief money.”
   
• “The program is ‘an excellent resource for fire departments and nonprofits to improve fire safety education,’ said Thompson, who bragged last March about opposing what he called ‘the Pelosi Payoff.’”