Jacobs votes against $1.9 trillion Covid relief package

‘We didn’t vote on a focused, fiscally responsible or targeted Covid-19 relief bill.’ – Congressman Jacobs

Congressman Chris Jacobs, R-Orchard Park, voted against the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package that barely passed in the House early Saturday morning, 219-212.

No Republicans voted in favor of the funding package, and two Democrats also opposed it. The legislation now goes to Senate.

Jacobs issued this statement about the “$1.9 trillion Democrat budget reconciliation package.”

“Today, we didn’t vote on a focused, fiscally responsible or targeted Covid-19 relief bill. The bill before the House today was a partisan package designed to advance an agenda, not the needs of the American people. Sadly, Democrats have rejected over 200 attempts at bipartisan consensus to cut costs and improve this legislation.

“More support is needed to defeat Covid -19, and I would have supported a targeted measure that bolstered vaccine distribution, aided struggling local governments, and reopened schools. Yet only 9% of the total funding of this package goes to public health measures to defeat Covid -19, and only 5% of the $130 billion in school funding will be used this year. In fact, $670 billion of this total package will not even be spent in 2021.

“This bill should have focused on the immediate needs to protect Americans and reopen our country. However, with over $1 trillion still left unspent from previous aid packages and no bipartisan input to craft this legislation – the result can only be described as a disservice to the American people. While there are provisions in this bill I support, it contained numerous provisions that I could not in good faith support or justify.”