WASHINGTON, D.C. - Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) spoke on the House floor opposing the partisan 1,815-page COVID-19 bill.
As Prepared for Delivery
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this bill. It is deeply troubling to me that during the worst pandemic in modern history and amidst a deep economic crisis, Democrats in the House continue to take the partisan path.
As Republicans and the Trump Administration moved to respond quickly, Congressional Democrats needlessly delayed the initial passage of the CARES Act and later caused a pointless, week-long shuttering of the Paycheck Protection Program. How many jobs were lost because of that delay?
And here we go again. According to Politico, “Democrats acknowledge that their behemoth proposal, whose summary alone is 90 pages, is more of a talking point than legislation that they expect to become law."
Just from the Energy and Commerce Committee perspective alone, you have policies that amount to federal government takeovers of entire sectors of our economy. There’s a sweetheart deal for Medicaid compliance carved out only for the state of New York and no one else. The bill throws more good money after bad to the failing Obamacare enrollment programs. And it violates years of bipartisan agreement to maintain Hyde protections on federal health care spending.
Why would Democrats spend weeks crafting what amounts to and 1,815-page Progressive Manifesto that’s “dead on arrival" in the Senate?
Mr. Speaker, I again implore my friends across the aisle to drop the petty politics and let’s move forward in a united way for the country. That’s what people across America are doing. And it’s what they expect us to do.
