A Conversation With Kevin Brady: “2021 Covid-19 Relief Stimulus Bill”

The Woodlands, TX - Kevin Brady is spending a great deal of time in Washington DC helping to address Covid-19 relief for the country and The Woodlands area. With there being a controversy surrounding the new stimulus bill, we asked Kevin if he would take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to answer a couple of important questions regarding this bill.  

Question:

There has been a great deal of news surrounding what is included in the $1.9 Trillion dollar Covid-19 Relief stimulus package being presented by Congress. It is a very controversial bill that no Republican in the House has voted for. Some of the news includes money being appropriated for illegal immigrants, funds being set aside for pet projects, and increased spending for poorly run democratic states like New York and California. It has been noted that a large percentage of the stimulus money will go towards Democrat's long-standing policy priorities and a smaller percentage will go towards public health-related issues like increasing vaccine distribution and getting kids back to school. 

Of the 1.9 Trillion dollars that is being proposed, what percentage of that money actually goes toward addressing Covid-19 relief? And what are you seeing the bulk of the money in the bill being allocated for?

Answer:

“I don't know why Democrats decided to just go it alone in jamming through a bill, with only their ideas represented, because five times since COVID hit, Republicans and Democrats came together, found common ground, and funded over three and a half trillion dollars. This was the largest emergency aid packages in American history. And when we worked together, we did really good things, both for defeating COVID and in rebuilding the economy. But here's the problem. Less than a dime of every dollar in this COVID stimulus goes to COVID vaccines for defeating the virus. It's just an insult. 

Secondly, this does next to nothing to help struggling main street businesses survive in Texas, or get people back to work. And those should be our priorities right now: defeating the virus and rebuilding the economy, so we can get businesses back on their feet, and people back to work. It has been very frustrating to see so much of this nearly $2 trillion go to things that don’t help us recover and, in some cases, the House bill with their minimum wage mandate would cost you more than 2 million jobs. It would kill our economy and so I think America deserves better. We know Congress has done better when we worked together. “

Question:

With at least three vaccines on the market, more than 65 million people already having been vaccinated and with a steady decline in cases, do you think that the stimulus passed by the House is necessary? And if not, what you do you think congress should do to better address Covid-19 in their spending? 

Answer:

“At this point, we are a year into the pandemic. We are so much smarter about what we need to do at this point. It is really is about two things: to defeat this virus and to rebuild the economy. Those are the top two priorities, and because so little of the funding goes to either, frankly, too much of this $2 trillion, it just goes to pay off political friends. There's just so much pork in here, so many big spending items that have nothing to do with COVID, and frankly, we still have a trillion dollars left from our other emergency packages that haven't even been spent yet. This just seems irresponsible, to go on a spending spree and not focus on our highest priority, which is defeating the virus and getting people back to work. A good example, I think, obviously is paying extra unemployment. The $400 extra a week in Texas means that more than half of Texans will be paid more to be unemployed than they do at work. That is really harmful to small businesses. Nancy Pelosi’s $140 million dollar subway and Senator Schumer's billion and a half dollar bridge have nothing to do with COVID in getting folks back to work. That's pork. It's just rampant in this bill and it's unfortunate that it didn't have to be this way.”

Comment Regarding Senate Progress on The Bill

Kevin mentioned that Senate Democrats are still considering changes to their $1.9 trillion so called “Covid Relief” package, but before they can vote on passage of the bill they will hold a vote-a-rama - where there are no limits to the number of votes that can be considered so this could be a long process. Once the senate passes their version, the bill will go to conference to create the final version

We appreciate the work that Kevin Brady is doing concerning the Covid-19 relief package and for his time addressing our questions. Check back with Woodlands Online for additional information regarding politics affecting The Woodlands area. 

About Kevin Brady

Kevin Brady is a pro-family, pro-small business conservative representing the 8th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the lead Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee - - considered by many to be the most powerful committee in Congress with jurisdiction over taxes, health care, Social Security, Medicare, international trade, and welfare. 

In order to stay close to the people he represents, Kevin never moved to Washington. He lives in Montgomery County with his wife Cathy and his two sons Will (18) and Sean (15) – and has logged nearly two million miles commuting to Congress each week.

Kevin is an original Hometown Hero of The Woodlands, a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary, and a Distinguished Alumni of the University of South Dakota. He and his family attend Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church.


Click here to learn more about Kevin Brady at his Official House Website Page or to contact his office for questions