Rubio: Dems want to hurt Trump vs. virus relief
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asserted Monday that Congress’ failure to pass additional relief for people suffering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is all the Democrats fault — motivated by a desire to hurt President Donald Trump even if it means people suffer.
Rubio also predicted a bleak future for the U.S. if Democrat Joe Biden is elected president. In a telephone news conference sponsored by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, Florida’s senior senator said a Biden victory would mean tax increases and more violent protests in the street. He claimed Biden wouldn’t have the strength to stand up to protesters in the streets or progressives in his party.
The news conference was part of Republican attempts to get attention for themselves during the Democratic National Convention.
In May, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed a $3.4 trillion package of coronavirus spending, including extending the $600 a week supplemental unemployment benefit.
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate didn’t release a plan until late July, days before the
unemployment benefits expired. The Republican plan was for $1 trillion, but the party wasn’t unified, with some Republicans thinking that was too much to spend.
The two sides have engaged in various rounds of negotiations in recent weeks, with no action.
Rubio said it was the Democrats’ fault. “We want to make a deal. We tried to make a deal,” he said. “They’ve [the Democrats have] made the calculation that no deal means that the country will suffer damage and people will be hurt and the more people are damaged, the more people are hurt, the angrier they’ll be and that they’ll take it out on Donald Trump during the election.
“I think that’s the calculus that they’ve made, that they politically benefit from no deal, and you’ve seen that in the posture that they’ve taken.”
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Broward-Palm Beach County Democrat, said the House wasn’t engaged in politics when it passed additional COVID-19 relief three months ago. “We knew we had to address the pain people are feeling,” he said by email.
“Instead of making this about politics, Senator Rubio should tell us why he doesn’t support extending the federal unemployment supplement, why he’s against extending state unemployment benefits, why he thinks an additional payment for struggling families is bad policy, and why we shouldn’t support our teachers, first responders, and other frontline workers at risk of losing their jobs,” Deutch said.
Committee Chairman Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., at a Seante hearing on June 10.