Key Vote Alert – NO on the 2020 Christmas Wish List

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“NO” on The 2020 Christmas Wish-List

Club for Growth opposes COVID Relief package and Omnibus appropriations bill agreed upon yesterday by the four leaders of the House and Senate and urges all Representatives and Senators to vote no on the legislation. If the agreement is divided into two votes, Club for Growth will key vote NO on BOTH votes. The legislative package will be considered soon in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. The result of the vote (or votes) will be included in the Club for Growth Foundation’s 2020 Congressional Scorecard.

This legislation is another example of Congress taking advantage of legislating by crisis and taking short-cuts in the legislative process in order to pass a bill that has not been reviewed by the American people, nor many Members. Although an agreement by Congressional leadership has been announced, there is not currently legislative text for Members of Congress and the public to review. This legislation is expected to only be available for a few hours before it will be voted on.

According to a summary document released by Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer, this bipartisan deal will spend around $900 billion on a myriad of issues including climate change reforms, rental assistances, the low-income housing tax credit, a tax credit for paid sick leave, increased food stamp benefits, a renewal and extension of unemployment benefits, education, an expansion of Pell Grants, internet access, global health money, money for vaccines, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and stimulus checks. Stimulus spending is never good for economic growth. Although the Senate Majority Leader has called on both parties to “pass everything that we can agree to” many of these issues have not received broad support within the Senate Majority or House Minority. Perhaps this is why the Senate Majority and House Minority have not yet released a similar summary document touting the so-called “wins” they extracted in the negotiations.

The deal provides for $82 billion for colleges and schools. Education bureaucrats should not be rewarded with billions of dollars when many schools are not offering in-person educational opportunities. Instead, the money should be directed to families and students to ensure all K-12 students have access to high-quality education.

Club for Growth also opposes a federal extension of unemployment benefits. Instead, Congress should prioritize funding for the distribution of a vaccine so that a more normal life may more quickly return to the world.

For highly distressed businesses, the Paycheck Protection Program has served as a lifeline. But millions of jobs and businesses have been lost to the COVID pandemic. For those businesses and job creators, this legislation does nothing to incentivize new business formation.

Over the past 9 months, the House Majority has too often politicized the coronavirus pandemic in order to enact its political agenda in elections. Speaker Pelosi’s willingness to cut a smaller deal now than the previous $3 trillion wish-list she demanded earlier this summer is evidence that Democrats intend to continue to push for trillions in stimulus spending that will bankrupt the economy in 2021.

The legislative package will also include an Omnibus appropriations bill that will fund the discretionary appropriations elements of the federal government through September 30, 2021. Again, the legislative text for this huge pillar of the bipartisan deal is not available at the time this key vote alert was published. Members of Congress and the American people should have the ability to scrutinize this legislation and determine which special interests are being funded, whether there are any Congressional earmarks included, and what other anomalies are tucked into the pages of a thousand-page bill. If history is any evidence to that question, the answer will certainly be yes.

The Federal Government is way too big and intrusive. And 2020, punctuated by this spending bill, has watched the Congress incur more deficit spending that ever before. Prior to COVID, revenue was at a record level, but while some revenues slowed due to lockdowns enforced by States and local governments bureaucrats, the American people have suffered.  Purposeful in their agenda, liberals have attempted to turn America into chaos. Christmas is no time to reward such nasty behavior.

But there is a way forward. The American people are resilient and our economy is built on the willingness to engage in business activity, take risks, and invoke the entrepreneurial spirit of the job creator. As many businesses are taking steps to adjust to the circumstances facing their business due to the pandemic, government needs to remove tax and regulatory burdens that are preventing people from conducting business. Because this bill does none of that, President Trump should veto it.

Club for Growth Foundation’s Congressional Scorecard for the 116th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to the public.

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Vote Results

Club Position

No

Required for Majority

1/2

Vote Results

Motion Agreed to

Vote Number

289

Vote Date

December 21, 2020

Vote Counts

YEAs:

92

NAYs:

6

Not Voting:

2

Name

State

Party

Vote Position

Lamar Alexander

TN

R

Yea

Tammy Baldwin

WI

D

Yea

John Barrasso

WY

R

Yea

Michael Bennet

CO

D

Yea

Marsha Blackburn

TN

R

Nay

Richard Blumenthal

CT

D

Yea

Roy Blunt

MO

R

Yea

Cory Booker

NJ

D

Yea

John Boozman

AR

R

Yea

Mike Braun

IN

R

Yea

Sherrod Brown

OH

D

Yea

Richard Burr

NC

R

Yea

Maria Cantwell

WA

D

Yea

Shelley Moore Capito

WV

R

Yea

Benjamin Cardin

MD

D

Yea

Thomas Carper

DE

D

Yea

Bob Casey

PA

D

Yea

Bill Cassidy

LA

R

Yea

Susan Collins

ME

R

Yea

Christopher Coons

DE

D

Yea

John Cornyn

TX

R

Yea

Catherine Cortez Masto

NV

D

Yea

Tom Cotton

AR

R

Yea

Kevin Cramer

ND

R

Yea

Mike Crapo

ID

R

Yea

Ted Cruz

TX

R

Nay

Steve Daines

MT

R

Yea

Tammy Duckworth

IL

D

Yea

Richard Durbin

IL

D

Yea

Michael Enzi

WY

R

Abs

Joni Ernst

IA

R

Yea

Dianne Feinstein

CA

D

Yea

Deb Fischer

NE

R

Yea

Cory Gardner

CO

R

Yea

Kirsten Gillibrand

NY

D

Yea

Lindsey Graham

SC

R

Yea

Chuck Grassley

IA

R

Yea

Kamala Harris

CA

D

Yea

Maggie Hassan

NH

D

Yea

Josh Hawley

MO

R

Yea

Martin Heinrich

NM

D

Yea

Mazie Hirono

HI

D

Yea

John Hoeven

ND

R

Yea

Cindy Hyde-Smith

MS

R

Yea

James Inhofe

OK

R

Yea

Ron Johnson

WI

R

Nay

Doug Jones

AL

D

Yea

Tim Kaine

VA

D

Yea

Mark Kelly

AZ

D

Yea

John Kennedy

LA

R

Yea

Angus King

ME

I

Yea

Amy Klobuchar

MN

D

Yea

James Lankford

OK

R

Yea

Patrick Leahy

VT

D

Yea

Mike Lee

UT

R

Nay

Kelly Loeffler

GA

R

Yea

Joe Manchin

WV

D

Yea

Edward Markey

MA

D

Yea

Mitch McConnell

KY

R

Yea

Robert Menendez

NJ

D

Yea

Jeff Merkley

OR

D

Yea

Jerry Moran

KS

R

Yea

Lisa Murkowski

AK

R

Yea

Christopher Murphy

CT

D

Yea

Patty Murray

WA

D

Yea

Rand Paul

KY

R

Nay

David Perdue

GA

R

Yea

Gary Peters

MI

D

Yea

Rob Portman

OH

R

Yea

Jack Reed

RI

D

Yea

Jim Risch

ID

R

Yea

Pat Roberts

KS

R

Yea

Mitt Romney

UT

R

Yea

Jacky Rosen

NV

D

Yea

Mike Rounds

SD

R

Abs

Marco Rubio

FL

R

Yea

Bernie Sanders

VT

I

Yea

Ben Sasse

NE

R

Yea

Brian Schatz

HI

D

Yea

Chuck Schumer

NY

D

Yea

Rick Scott

FL

R

Nay

Tim Scott

SC

R

Yea

Jeanne Shaheen

NH

D

Yea

Richard Shelby

AL

R

Yea

Krysten Sinema

AZ

D

Yea

Tina Smith

MN

D

Yea

Debbie Stabenow

MI

D

Yea

Dan Sullivan

AK

R

Yea

Jon Tester

MT

D

Yea

John Thune

SD

R

Yea

Thom Tillis

NC

R

Yea

Pat Toomey

PA

R

Yea

Tom Udall

NM

D

Yea

Chris Van Hollen

MD

D

Yea

Mark Warner

VA

D

Yea

Elizabeth Warren

MA

D

Yea

Sheldon Whitehouse

RI

D

Yea

Roger Wicker

MS

R

Yea

Ron Wyden

OR

D

Yea

Todd Young

IN

R

Yea

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