Joe Concha: ‘Porky’ coronavirus relief bill ‘essence of the swamp’
The Hill media reporter and Fox News contributor reacts on ‘Outnumbered Overtime’ to the coronavirus relief package.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha blasted the $900 billion coronavirus relief package passed by Congress this week, calling it "a pork-filled cluster" that has "nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic or relief."
Concha went on to describe the legislation as the "essence of the swamp."
"What stood out to me most was the $1 billion for the Smithsonian to build two additional museums," Concha told "Outnumbered Overtime" Wednesday. "The Washington Nationals moved into a new park about ten years ago, right in Washington as well. That cost about $850 million to build. Even with inflation, you’re still not going to get to a billion dollars."
Included in the bill is $26 million to the Kennedy Center for the Arts. Concha questioned why Congress decided to put that kind of money into a facility that hasn’t hosted a performance since mid-March.
CONGRESS PASSES $900B COVID-19 RESCUE PACKAGE AFTER TENSE NEGOTIATIONS
In addition, the legislation proposed a $600 direct payment to most indivuduals and $1,200 to most couples, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters.
Late Tuesday, President Trump demanded Congress boost the amount to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples, calling the bill passed "a disgrace."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., all favored the president’s proposal.
"The [coronavirus relief package] is the swamp, and this is the money that they tried to spend in the most insidious way possible, which is sneak it in with COVID relief," Concha argued. "This way if you vote against it three days before Christmas, you look like a horrible person, even though on principal you are voting against the pork and not the relief."
The Hill media columnist noted Congress could have passed a coronavirus stimulus bill earlier, when Americans were truly struggling during the pandemic.
"It seems the House Speaker — remember, Democrats are control of the House — the House Speaker wanted to wait and play politics until their preferred candidate, Joe Biden, got across the finish line, and then she said herself that it was a game changer that Joe Biden won," Concha said. "Suddenly, negotiations could go forward at this point, particularly with a vaccine."
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Concha blasted House Democrats and Republicans for "forcing" Congress to vote on the massive coronavirus bill in a short amount of time.
"That’s just a whole big bowl of wrong and it was both sides of the aisle, whether you’re talking about AOC or Rand Paul, you can’t just ram these things through, pat yourself on the back, and say, 'OK, Merry Christmas, I’m going home to my big freezer to eat my loads of ice cream.'"
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