AFP Statement on Omnibus and COVID Spending Package

Dec 21, 2020 by AFP

Arlington, Va. – Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Chief Government Affairs Officer Brent Gardner issued the following statement on the $2.3 trillion Omnibus and COVID spending package Congress is expected to vote on today:

“Despite a year of unexpected challenges, this is one thing we all saw coming and could have avoided – a massive, lame duck must-pass omnibus bill packed with wasteful and unrelated spending provisions that should and would be rejected as bad policy were they considered on their own merits.

“At a time when thousands of small businesses have closed their doors over the last year, why is Congress extending tax carve outs and dishing out billions in spending as favors to well-connected special interests?

“Additionally, while lawmakers were right to reject direct state bailouts and repurpose unused COVID relief spending – calling into question whether more spending is even needed – they were wrong to add COVID spending to an omnibus in the first place, and are wrong to think this spending would actually lead to relief. Real COVID relief should focus on actually stopping the virus – swiftly removing regulatory barriers that hold testing, vaccines, and therapeutics back from getting to the American people.”

“It may be the season of giving, but that does not mean lawmakers should be giving taxpayer money away recklessly. Americans deserve better.”

For further information or to set up an interview, please send an email to Lo Isidro at LIsidro@afphq.org.