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Sunday night, President Trump signed into law a combined government funding and COVID-19 relief package.  The package includes $600 per person in direct stimulus payments to American families ($2,400 for a family of four, for example), another round of Paycheck Protection funding for small businesses that have less than 300 employees and can demonstrate a revenue reduction of 25 percent, including enhanced payments of 3.5x monthly payroll for restaurants and hotels, extension of the $300 per person pandemic-related unemployment benefits, funding for health care workers and vaccine distribution, and aid to some of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic.  The total price tag: $900 billion.  This puts the total COVID-19 federal response this year close to $4.5 trillion.  Should the $2,000 stimulus payment pass the Senate, that figure will go to $5 trillion.  For perspective, the federal government spent approximately $4.5 trillion total — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the military…everything — in the 2019 fiscal year.  Here is a link to the specifics of the COVID relief bill. 

House Republicans are in the minority; consequently, we don’t control what comes to the floor or when it comes to the floor for a vote.  In this case, Speaker Pelosi attached the COVID relief bill to the annual appropriations bills, which is approximately $1.4 trillion.  The appropriations measure includes funding for the military, our veterans and homeland security among many other accounts.  Here is a link to the details of everything in that package. 

After signing the bill, President Trump issued this statement listing some of the items he would like Congress to address going forward, including larger stimulus payments, investigations into allegations of voter fraud, and reforming Section 230, which protects social media companies from liability for the content they publish. 

Also included in the overall package was a water resources development bill that includes major wins for Southeastern North Carolina.  Among those wins, the federal funding cap for Wrightsville Beach was lifted allowing for federal funds to continue to be used for coastal storm damage reduction, and authorization for those projects at Carolina Beach and Kure Beach is a certainty for years to come. 

The Votes on Monday

Last night, the House voted on the proposal to bump up the stimulus payment to $2,000 per individual while keeping the per child payment at $600 ($5,200 for a family of four), without any reduction of any other spending.  

I voted against the measure for these three primary reasons:  Any stimulus payment should be targeted to those who truly need it.  Many contacted me after receipt of the $1200 stimulus payment to say that they didn’t need it — to give it to someone else who did.  That not only speaks to the good character of so many in the 7th Congressional District, but it also speaks to the truth: the payment should be targeted to those who have lost their jobs or have had their income cut.  Second, getting workers to come back to their job is the number one complaint I receive from small business owners.  Between the enhanced unemployment payment and now $5,200 on top, it will be that much longer before they can find workers.  This means it will take that much longer to get our economy back to full speed, even when governors around the country allow businesses to open back up where they have either shut them down or cut back on the hours they can be open. 

Furthermore, the $600 per person ($2400 for a family of four) that is now law was the compromise negotiated because of the very issues I just cited.  Third, there was no spending offset included. 

The other vote was an override of the veto on the National Defense Authorization Act.  I voted to override.  This is too important of a bill.  Setting defense policy to combat China and our many other adversaries as well as providing authorization of funding for our men and women in uniform is paramount.  Further, our special forces don’t get paid if this bill doesn’t become law.  The President’s objections were all about section 230, liability protection for social media companies, a matter unrelated to the content of the bill.  I voted against the NDAA in the first round to give him support to make his case.

That vote went overwhelmingly against him, ending any opportunity for section 230 reforms to be added to this particular piece of legislation.  This is noted in the President’s statement regarding his decision to sign the COVID relief and appropriations package which is attached above.  Specific to that particular issue, it reads, "...Congress has promised that Section 230, which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed.”   

Stay tuned for future updates.