The GOP’s Long Week Of Political Games Costs Americans
July 29, 2022
Over the past week GOP lawmakers have been in disarray as they desperately try to get in the way of Democrats’ work to lower drug and health care costs, fight inflation, and reduce the deficit.
Senate Republicans held a press conference on Wednesday to discuss crime, and even though GOP senators claim to “Back the Blue,” every single one of them voted against the American Rescue Plan, which provided critical funding to many local police departments. Many of these same Senate Republicans also backed Trump’s budget plan that proposed to defund the COPS program — which provides funding to state and local law enforcement agencies.
NBC News: “House Republicans who opposed Covid aid still see funds flow to local police departments”
Wall Street Journal: “The [Trump] administration’s 2021 budget, like all its previous budgets, recommended eliminating the Community Relations Services and Community Oriented Policing Services and placing their functions under other parts of the department to ‘improve efficiency.’”
Wednesday was a busy day of ignoring the needs of Americans for Senate Republicans as 41 of them voted against advancing the PACT Act — a bill that would expand health care access for combat veterans suffering from toxic burn pit exposure. And if that weren’t enough, there’s a video of GOP lawmakers celebrating their decision to block health care from veterans.
The Hill: “Republican lawmakers blocked passage of a bill in the U.S. Senate Wednesday that expands healthcare coverage for military veterans who were exposed to toxins and burn pits during their service.”
Newsweek: “Video shows two Republican senators fist bump after they blocked a bill to support veterans after they are exposed to chemical weapons.”
32 Senate Republicans and 187 House Republicans voted against the CHIPS and Science Act this week opposing legislation that would tackle inflation, lower costs, and bring manufacturing jobs back to America. Congressional Republicans keep showing that siding with China and Big Pharma is the GOP party line.
Washington Post: “[The CHIPS Act] would provide $52 billion in subsidies to domestic semiconductor manufacturers… in a bid to strengthen the United States’ competitiveness and self-reliance in what is seen as a keystone industry for economic and national security.”
On top of all of that, while millions of Americans are living in fear that their rights could be stripped away, Senate Republicans are playing political games. Every Senate Republican should answer if they support codifying federal protections for same-sex marriage.
Vox: “Many Senate Republicans, rather than confront the substance of new legislation that would provide federal protections for same-sex marriage, are instead arguing that a vote on the bill is unnecessary.”
Washington Post: “The Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would enshrine the right to same-sex and interracial marriage in federal law, is only four short pages long. Yet in the week since the House passed the measure on a bipartisan vote and Democratic leaders indicated they planned to put it on the Senate floor, few Republican senators have found the time to read it — or so they said Tuesday.”
Over the past week, congressional Republicans showcased how far the GOP is willing to go to push their extreme MAGA agenda, and after a week of turning their backs on Americans, the GOP owes the American people answers.