Vultures Circle on New Legislation: More Pork for the Dems

Even when the focus is supposed to be on providing economic help to struggling Americans, Democrat legislators just cannot help themselves. Using taxpayer money like an unlimited credit card, greedy Dems are stuffing the newest coronavirus relief bill with trillions of dollars of “pork.” Every dollar they pour into their pet projects is a dollar taken away from citizens and small businesses who really need it. The vultures are circling to grab every bite they can.

Pelosi Pushing Pet Pork Projects

Unsurprisingly, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is right in the thick of things. The California Democrat is on an all-out lobbying blitz. She spends hours on the phone and in briefings, trying to build support for the ballooning bill.

Pelosi hopes to have the bill on the House floor by next week, but that is extremely unlikely. So much personal priority pork is attached, even senior Democrats don’t know what all is included. Some estimates put the final cost at up to $2 trillion.

Pelosi admits that she doesn’t care about the taxpayer bill at all. “How are you paying? No one asked that question with the $2 trillion tax cut.” She was referring to the Republican Party’s 2017 tax-reduction package.

What is Included in Pelosi’s Pork Package?

A coronavirus relief bill isn’t supposed to be a blank check that Democrats can use to pay for every item on their agendas. It is supposed to support small businesses and everyday Americans who are struggling while the economy remains largely closed.

Instead, Pelosi and other greedy Democrats want to use the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to treat this “kitchen sink” bill as a personal pork-laden wishlist. Included in the agenda:

• $25 billion to the U.S. Postal Service;
• $4 billion to non-profit museums and cultural institutions;
• Elimination of the requirement that businesses receiving loans spend 75% of that money on payroll;
• Funding for mail-in voting;
• Increased and recurring stimulus payments;
• Stimulus payments to illegal aliens;
• Suspension of rent;
• Money for individual state and local governments;
• Student loan forgiveness.

Ignoring the Cost

There are two major problems with the provisions of the bill. FIRST, many of these pork inclusions have nothing to do with helping average Americans or small businesses in financial crises because of COVID-19. SECOND, these proposals show no understanding of economic realities. Because they are so focused on their own pet projects, Democrats don’t even consider how they are going to pay for all of this.

For example, Democrat Jerrold Nadler, a State Representative from New York, says, “I think we do have to give money to private cultural institutions, and I’m not concerned, frankly, about borrowing money by the trillions.”

Contrast that statement with GOP sensibilities. Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, was more realistic when he said, “We think we ought to take a pause here, do a good job of evaluating what we’ve already done.”