Hawks no more: GOP embraces rescue package

NEW YORK — Republicans who have spent the past decade howling about the danger of ballooning deficits embraced the coronavirus rescue package approved by Congress and signed by President Trump, shrugging off past concerns about spending in the face of a public health crisis.

In many cases, the conservatives who backed the $2 trillion bill — the largest economic relief measure in U.S. history — were the very same who raged against the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus package backed by the Obama administration.

But facing the unprecedented threat of a global pandemic — and working under a GOP president who has largely brushed off concerns about debt and deficits — the GOP was willing to overlook an unprecedented flood of taxpayer spending.

Even before the health crisis struck, the GOPaligned fiscal conservative movement had dramatically diminished under Trump, who has pushed the nation’s budget deficit to heights not seen in nearly a decade. That’s prompted arguments that the GOP is hypocritical when it comes to government spending.

For the first time in the modern era, Republicans are on record supporting direct cash payments to tens of millions of Americans — a governmentbacked measure more likely to be found in socialist countries.

One major exception: Rep. Thomas Massie, RKy., who upset congressional leaders — and Trump himself — on Friday by unsuccessfully trying to force a formal House vote on the historic legislation.

Steve Peoples is an Associated Press writer.

Susan Walsh / Associated Press GOP Rep. Thomas Massie upset President Trump by trying to force a House vote on the legislation.