Sen. Cruz Outlines Policies to Help America Recover from the Impact of COVID-19
More than 51 million unemployment claims have been filed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Families are hurting. Now, more than ever, Congress should be focused on getting our economy back on its feet and helping the American people safely return to work. Instead, Washington is wasting time negotiating a bloated "relief" bill with a starting cost of at least $1 trillion. That's $1 trillion dollars on top of:
- the nearly $3 trillion of relief Congress has already spent in response to COVID - including money that has been lost due to waste, fraud and abuse such as unemployment insurance scams and federal contracts awarded to companies who settled prior fraud claims with the federal government.
- our national debt, which has already ballooned from $23.2 trillion in January to $26.5 trillion today.
They claim this "relief" bill will reduce the strain COVID-19 has had on our economy. The reality is it will only further prolong the economic devastation we have seen and make it more difficult for millions of hardworking men and women to find a job, earn a living, and provide for their families. The most current proposal does not include a payroll tax cut. This would be a mistake. Suspending the payroll tax would put more money in workers' pockets and help employers continue to bring back more jobs.
A relief plan simply isn't enough. Our country needs a recovery plan. As U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Fox News' Hannity this week:
"We can't just keep shoveling cash at this. We are going broke. We are bankrupting our country, and the answer can't be trillions and trillions more money that we keep printing or we keep borrowing from China. [...] We need a recovery bill, we need to be pulling back taxes and job-killing regulations to help small businesses reopen and create jobs."
What's worse: negotiations on this spending package are only expected to devolve as Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Schumer push their partisan list, which is filled with policies completely unrelated to the coronavirus and economic devastation that has followed, including:
- Letting criminals out of prison
- Blocking deportations of illegal immigrants
- Funding "environmental justice grants"
- Enacting national vote by mail
- Reducing airplane emissions
Instead of entertaining these pipedream proposals, Sen. Cruz is working to advance meaningful solutions that will actually help reignite our economy and restore hope and optimism across the country, including:
- Removing burdensome regulations and red-tape that strangle small businesses and stifle job creation.
- Expanding access to HSAs so Americans have the flexibility to make health care choices that best meet their individual needs.
- Expanding School Choice by expanding scholarship opportunities, especially with the uncertainty surrounding school re-openings across the country.
- Establishing a U.S. supply chain for rare earth minerals to end our dependence on China for critical minerals used to manufacture defense and other technologies.
BOTTOM LINE: The American people need a recovery bill, not a spending bill. Failing to deliver just that will have devastating consequences for the country for generations to come.
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