LEXINGTON, Ky. — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came to Lexington on Monday to tour the University of Kentucky’s mass-vaccination clinic and tout the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That is, the federal government’s response prior to Jan. 20, 2021.
“What we’re talking about today was all done before the end of last year,” McConnell said when asked about the newest federal relief package. “Including a $900 billion package that the previous president signed right at the end of 2020. Then the new administration came in and asked for another $2 trillion. That’s what we did a year ago. We’re not where we were a year ago. We’re on our way out of this now.”
McConnell’s 10-minute long speech sounded much like the one he gave all summer on the campaign trail. He talked about how, last March, the state faced an unprecedented emergency. He talked about how Congress acted in a bipartisan manner to pass legislation that would provide relief to hospitals and small businesses. He talked about the medical marvel of the vaccine and pushed back against vaccine reluctance in Republican men, urging everyone to take the vaccine.
But when it came to the American Rescue Plan Act — the federal COVID-19 stimulus package that sent billions to Kentucky and passed without a Republican vote in March — McConnell fretted that it would “jeopardize the future of the country” because it cost too much.
“What we did last year was a big bonus to Kentucky, this is an even bigger bonus,” McConnell said. “I’m sure they love to have it, but I don’t see that they need it.”
The bill gave direct $1,400 stimulus checks to many Kentuckians, temporarily expanded the child tax credit and allocated billions to go to local governments and education. On top of that, Kentucky received more than $2.4 billion that the General Assembly has already begun to allocate.
In the waning days of the legislative session, lawmakers dished out the money to help get underserved communities connected to the internet, to improve access to clean drinking water and to pay back the federal government’s unemployment insurance loan, which will provide a relief for small businesses.
McConnell said he wouldn’t second guess how the state is spending the money and that he doesn’t blame the state government for wanting more relief.
“I voted against this last package because enough is enough,” McConnell said. “We’re threatening the future of our country.”
The national debt rose by around $7.8 trillion during the administration of former President Donald Trump, in part because of the 2017 tax cuts and stimulus spending on the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the new Democratic administration of President Joe Biden has taken over in Washington D.C., Republicans are pointing to the national debt as reason to not support some of his ambitious spending measures, like a large infrastructure plan Biden recently proposed.
While the plan would have the potential to help with projects like repairing the Brent-Spence bridge in Northern Kentucky, McConnell said he would not be able to support the package the way it has been proposed. McConnell said the bill would reverse the 2017 tax cuts and said he’d be open to a “more modest approach.”
“It would have to be completely re-crafted in a way that was not going to engage in undoing the tax cuts, have it credibly paid for without adding to the debt,” McConnell said when asked what specifically in the bill he would support.
