Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is contending that President Joe Biden is breaking his promise to be a “president for all Americans” as he prepares to sign the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, she said, “We have been able to pass five Covid relief packages in the past year. And unfortunately, Biden’s promise to be the bipartisan president, a president for all Americans, is going out the window today as he signs this non-COVID-19 package.”
“We are footing the bill for a Democratic wishlist of items,” she added.
Ernst noted that lawmakers were able to remove several provisions from the relief package, such as an increase in the federal minimum wage.
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Sen. Joni Ernst: "Unfortunately, Biden's promise to be the bipartisan president, a president for all Americans, is going out the window." pic.twitter.com/XsDpnIc0un
— The Hill (@thehill) March 10, 2021
Her comments come as the House passed the relief package without a single Republican vote. The bill now goes to Biden’s desk, and he is expected to sign it on Friday.
The bill will send individuals who earn less than $75,000 a year a $1,400 stimulus check, increase funding for coronavirus vaccine distribution, expand the child tax credit, and give $350 billion in aid to state and local governments.
Despite polls that found a majority of Americans support the measure, Republican lawmakers balked at the bill as they argued it was made up of a wishlist of Democratic priorities.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) blasted the bill as he said, “This is not a COVID bill. This is not a rescue plan.”
“This is the last train leaving the station that the Democrats can plausibly pretend is about COVID or the economic recovery, and so they’re loading it up with a longstanding liberal wish list of items that have nothing to do with restoring economic growth or combatting the pandemic,” he added.
However, Biden has defended the bill as he said in a statement it “is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance.”
In addition to providing aid to small businesses and individuals struggling from the coronavirus restrictions, Biden claims the bill will “cut child poverty in half.”