WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats may be celebrating a victory with the U.S. Sentate passing the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, but Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. is not.
Dr. Cassidy voted against the Biden Administration’s relief package and had some critical words for his political colleagues at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
“We passed five bipartisan COVID relief bills; there is no reason we could not do a sixth,” said Dr. Cassidy in a media release on Saturday shortly after the bill passed. “I wanted to support a bill that targeted aid to those impacted by the pandemic.
“Instead, Democrats rammed through a bill that wastes hundreds of billions of dollars on pet projects that have nothing to do with the pandemic and puts our economy at risk of inflation.”
To top off Cassidy’s disappointment, Senate Democrats blocked an amendment introduced by Cassidy, and fellow Republican Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas to prohibit Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) to “any individual who is incarcerated in a Federal or State prison.”
According to Cassidy, if adopted this amendment would have saved taxpayers approximately $1.9 billion.
Senate passage sets up final congressional approval by the House next week so lawmakers can send it to Biden for his signature.
