U.S. Rep. Gaetz: Democrats Have a “Sad” Response to Post-Impeachment Business

In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s acquittal in the recent impeachment trial, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz ripped both houses of the Democratic-led Congress for failing to help most Americans get back on their feet.

In his weekly newsletter to constituents, the Florida Republican said congressional Democrats now want nothing more than to jam through a “liberal wish list” while using COVID-19 as cover.

Gaetz began by noting the Senate’s response to the acquittal of Trump in the “unjust, unjustified, and unjustifiable” impeachment trial.

“Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Senate’s next action was … nothing at all,” Gaetz wrote.

“Following the impeachment trial, the Senate immediately went into recess. It’s disappointing to see that the Senate was willing to waste plenty of time on an unconstitutional and unnecessary impeachment trial and then decide to take a break.”

“This time,” he added, “would have been better spent finally putting the past behind them and working together on legislation to help the American people.”

Yet Gaezt acknowledged that the Senate had to share the blame.

The House also went into recess over the past week.

Next week, though, the House will be back in session, said Gaetz, and topping its agenda is the $1.9 trillion package of “progressive priorities” that Democrats “have hurriedly cobbled together.”

“This package will keep schools closed, bailout blue states, pay people not to work, and raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, he said.

In contrast, “Republicans believe that schools and the economy should be reopened, and the remaining $1 trillion from previous COVID packages should be spent before taking out any further mortgages on the backs of future generations of Americans,” Gaetz said.

“However, Democrats rejected hundreds of Republican amendments, making it clear that Democrats have no interest in bipartisan solutions, and are instead using the reconciliation process to jam their liberal wish list through Congress as quickly (and with as little dissent, discussion, and debate) as possible.”

Gaetz had one word to describe that situation: “Sad!”

In addition to items Gaetz referenced, the 591-page coronavirus relief measure, which according to Reuters, was “stitched together by the House Budget Committee,” has money for dubious projects.

For example, it funds $300 million for the “monitoring and surveillance of susceptible animals for incidence of SARS–CoV–2.” Yet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, “At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to people. Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low.”

The House bill also allocates $135 million each to the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment of the Humanities and $200 million to the Institute of Museum and Library Services to help those groups get over COVID.

In the bill, $10 million is dedicated to the “preservation and maintenance of Native American languages.”

Another $800 million would be pumped into the Food for Peace program, which, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development, solely expresses “the compassion and generosity of the people of the United States,’ by mobilizing “America’s resources to predict, prevent and respond to hunger overseas with food assistance.”

The bill also allots $91 million for student-debt relief, $50 million for family planning services that can include abortion or sterilization, and payments o up to 120 percent of debt for “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers” in order to alleviate “discriminatory barriers preventing (them) from fully participating in the American farm economy.”