WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) took to the Senatefloor on March 3 to speak out in opposition to the Democrat-backed $2 trillion stimulus package.
The Republican senator argues that Congresshas done enough to help Americans already.
Sen. Toomey calls the stimulus package currently before Congress a ‘liberal wish list,’ and he vows to fight its passage.
The bill would deliver hundreds of billions of dollars to schools, bolster Medicaid, unemployment and support small businesses. It would also include another round of direct payments to Americans.
The senator says that the economic crisis caused by the pandemic is over and the country should completely reopen.
“We need to re-open our schools. We need to end the lockdowns. That’s what we need,” Toomey says.
The country saw 22 million jobs lost throughout the pandemic. More than 80,000 Pennsylvanians filed new unemployment claims in the last week of January alone.
Toomey was criticized this week by state Republican lawmakers because he voted to convict Trump following the former president’s second impeachment.
Locally,U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) praised the stimulus package, saying it would speed the reopening of schools.
Movement on the bill has been held up significantly after U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) demanded the entire 628-page bill be read aloud on the Senate floor.
