U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today released the following statement after voting against the partisan $1.9 trillion spending package:
“Despite President Biden’s promises for unity and bipartisan cooperation, the first major bill considered in his presidency is a partisan and wasteful spending bill disguised as ‘COVID relief.’ One trillion dollars from previous bipartisan COVID bills remains unspent, and much of the spending in this bill won’t be spent until long after we expect to be emerging from the pandemic. Less than 10 percent of the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion spending package goes directly to public health funding to end the COVID-19 pandemic, and just one percent is dedicated to getting vaccines to the American people.
“This is the first COVID bill to be done in an entirely partisan way, because it isn’t designed to end the pandemic – it is a blatant attempt from Democrats to jam through a partisan wish list.”