WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a nearly $2 trillion federal spending bill late Friday night. Congressman Hal Rogers voted against the legislation, because less than 9% of the funding targets COVID relief, while funneling millions of dollars into liberal projects, including a Silicon Valley subway in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district and a costly seaway bridge in Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer's home state. 

"This bill isn't an American rescue package; it drives up our national debt, kills over one million jobs, fails to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding abortions and pays for pet projects in largely democrat districts," said Rogers. "We still have $1 trillion of unspent stimulus funding waiting to be delivered for the American people from 2020, yet President Biden and Democrat leaders are blatantly using a national pandemic to bailout their friends in urban areas while the rest of the country suffers."

Even after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that it would be out of order if Democrats attempted to increase the minimum wage to $15/hour through reconciliation, they doubled-down on efforts to advance this bad policy and destroy 1.4 million jobs in the process.

Republicans have tried to work with President Biden and Democrat leaders to bring the American people a bipartisan bill, but only two of 229 amendments offered in Committee consideration of the bill were accepted.

"We have a long way to go as our communities work to rebound from COVID-related shutdowns, especially in rural America. Right now, we should be focused on reopening our schools, getting people back to work, widely distributing the COVID-19 vaccine and ramping up efforts to revitalize our economy, but more than half of the funding in this bill will not be spent until 2022 or later," said Rogers. 

The plan will also create a $30 billion cut to the Medicare program every year starting in 2022 and continuing over the next decade.  

Prominent economists, including former Clinton and Obama appointee Larry Summers, say this bill is not needed to sustain the nation's trajectory of economic growth, and does not account for unintended long-term consequences for America's economy.

Learn more about Congressman Rogers' work in Washington and in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District at halrogers.house.gov. 

Click here to read H.R. 1319.