McCarthy on Biden's $1.9 Trillion COVID Bill: 'Pelosi's Payoff Bill' With 'Less Than 9 Percent' to Defeat the Virus (February 26, 2021)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had a name for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill. McCarthy “derided the nearly $2 trillion proposal as ‘Pelosi’s Payoff Bill,’ noting that ‘the amount of money that actually goes to defeating the virus is less than 9 percent,’” Fox News reported [1].

“The House passed its version of the relief proposal with a vote of 219-212 around 2 a.m. Saturday,” Fox News reported. “No Republicans backed the bill and two Democrats – U.S. Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon – voted against their party’s plan.” [1]

The video above shows McCarthy on Feb. 26, 2021, as the House took up the bill. Quotes are from Fox News, ABC7 News, WRAL and the Clerk of the House [1][2][3][4][5][6].

Not One Republican

The House Clerk’s tally on H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act, shows the bill passed 219 to 212 on Feb. 27, 2021. Republicans voted 0 to 210. Democrats voted 219 to 2 [2].

”A Tunnel Near Pelosi’s District”

McCarthy zeroed in on a transit project in California. “The Socialists have brought the swamp back. $140 million for a tunnel near Pelosi’s district, and when Republicans tried to redirect that money to provide mental health services for kids, every single Democrat voted against the kids,” he tweeted, ABC7 News reported [4].

A Republican motion to send the bill back to committee, the motion to recommit, failed 205 to 218. Republicans voted 205 to 0, and Democrats 0 to 218 [3].

“The project in question is known as Phase II of the BART Silicon Valley Extension Program,” ABC7 News reported. “The plan includes six miles of track, about five miles of which will be underground.” [4]

“Tech Oligarchs”

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., went after the same project. “We already know that part of this money is going to go to build a tunnel from Silicon Valley to San Francisco,” Nunes said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “These tech oligarchs are the last people that need anybody’s money, and they sure as hell don’t need a tunnel from Silicon Valley to San Francisco.” [4]

“This is a slush fund in order to buy votes that Biden can use over the next four years,” Nunes told Fox News. “It’s a Trojan horse with $2 trillion in it so they can build things like a goofy high-speed rail that they haven’t even completed.” [1]

“Very Little to Do With COVID Relief”

Fox News laid out what else was in the House bill: “The proposal contains a third $1,400 stimulus check for Americans earning less than $75,000 annually, increases jobless benefits to $400 a week through the end of August, expands the child tax credit to up to $3,600 per child, includes $350 billion for state and local government funding and allocates $170 billion for K-12 schools and higher education institutions to cover reopening costs.” [1]

“Tucked into the House bill was also the Democrat’s plan to gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025 – an effort many Republicans rejected,” Fox News reported [1].

”Operation Warp Speed”

After Biden signed the bill, McCarthy went on “Fox & Friends” and gave credit for the vaccines to Operation Warp Speed. “Yes, they should, but how is he able to provide that shot? Operation Warp Speed,” he said [6].

“Let’s give credit where credit is due because it is the American ingenuity that came together, that we had a virus hit us from China, that we came together and made vaccines and now there’s three out there that’s already approved so we’re producing more than 2 million a day into people’s arms,” McCarthy said [6].

He listed where the money was going. “You are now going to provide bonuses up to $25,000 to government employees and bureaucrats and if you’re not part of the swamp, you get nothing,” he said. “Your money is going to pay for illegal immigrants’ healthcare.” [6]

By the Numbers

$1.9 trillion: the cost of the bill [1].
Less than 9 percent: the share going to “defeating the virus,” per McCarthy [1].
219-212: the House vote on passage [2].
0: House Republicans who voted for it [2].
$140 million: the BART tunnel money McCarthy targeted [4].

What Happened Next

The tunnel money came out. “Two big projects originally slated to be part of the Covid-19 relief bill but criticized as being unrelated to coronavirus relief will be pulled from the package, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office confirmed to CNN on Tuesday,” WRAL reported on March 2, 2021 [5].

“Pelosi’s office said Tuesday that the Senate parliamentarian had ruled against its inclusion because it was part of a pilot project,” the report said [5].

Biden signed the rest. McCarthy spoke on Fox News after “President Biden on Thursday signed into law the sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that Democrats muscled through Congress without any Republican support,” Fox News reported on March 12, 2021 [6].

“This is a waste of money, less than 9% is going to Covid. This is a payoff to Pelosi’s political friends,” McCarthy said [6].

For the $36 billion that bill later sent to a Teamsters pension fund, see HYGO News’ page on Dec. 8, 2022. For Biden’s claim that he cut the federal budget by $1.4 trillion, see the page on Nov. 7, 2022.