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Rep. Crenshaw: COVID Bill Is Just ‘Bribing People With Their Own Money’

Dan Crenshaw

During a Fox News interview on Thursday, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) responded to the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, saying that if the bill was truly popular, then “we have fully given in to this notion that we should be bribed by our government for false promises.”

He posted the exchange on Twitter, with a similar caption, “Bribing people with their own money is dishonest and unsustainable.”

 

“Look, if you’re really happy about getting a $1,400 check — again, imagine that, giving free money to people is popular, I get that, but here’s the thing: it’s costing you $5,700, give or take, and if you’re not paying for it, your kids are,” Crenshaw said in the interview. “Look, if this is really as popular as the Democrats say it is, we’re in a lot of trouble as a country. It means that we have fully given in to this notion that we should be bribed by our government for false promises. And that is not an American thing to do. We have to stop collectively doing that. It’s going to destroy the next generation. It’s already threatening to cause massive inflation.”

“Here’s the other thing about this bill,” he continued. “There’s already trillions, hundreds of billions, about a trillion unspent from past relief bills. There is money in the PPP fund that could go to small businesses if you change the standards of how they get it. That would be smart. Half of this money won’t even be spent until 2022 or later. It is an absolute lie for them to say that this is an emergency relief bill that goes and invests directly in the people. It is for a lot of different nonsense that has nothing to do with COVID. Only 9% of it has to do with COVID healthcare. Only about 1% is for vaccine distribution.”

The bill includes direct payments of $1,400 to Americans making less than $75,000 per year, or couples making less than $150,000 per year. Nearly all of these payments will be less than the over $5,000 that will eventually have to be paid by taxpayers.

An additional provision in the bill grants federal employees the ability to receive up to $1,400 a week for 15 weeks as paid time off if they have any kids that are not enrolled in full-time, in-classroom instruction at school.

Forbes reported, “Under the bill as currently drafted, full-time federal employees can take up to 600 hours in paid leave until September 30, up to $35 an hour and $1,400 a week. That’s 15 weeks for a 40-hour employee. Part-time and ‘seasonal’ employees are eligible, too, with equivalent hours established by their agency.”

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