Republicans in Congress and statehouses across the nation keep saying that they are for the “common man”, the guy who doesn’t sit at the same table with them. If that is the case, someone needs to explain why Republicans voted against President Joe Biden’s COVID Relief Bill that was passed by the Democrat controlled House of Representatives last week. Voters in every state who have Republican representatives should ask them to explain why they were against a bill that will help sustain people who are needy, as the country continues to go through a crippling pandemic, many of those suffering who happen to lean/vote Republican. For those who may want to say that “America is back”, and that the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror, something that Republicans dare not say, 500,000 and counting dead American citizens, could not sustain such a lie. Republicans sent a very clear message that politics “trumps” all (pun intended) when it comes to people’s health and that making sure that people who need help, are not abandoned because of circumstances beyond their control. The nation, under Republican control in the Executive Branch led by Donald Trump, let the coronavirus get out of control because Trump said that he “downplayed” the importance of the virus, because he didn’t want to “cause a panic”. Because of Trump’s reluctance to aggressively confront the virus, the death toll from the virus amounted to staggering totals as the months went on, to an almost shutdown of the nation. The nation got sicker as the unemployment rolls swelled, businesses shut down and the ex-president continued to play golf. When Democrats took control of the House, they passed a stimulus relief bill expressively for COVID relief, but Republicans made sure that the rich were well taken care of. It didn’t matter that the nation’s debt would skyrocket, as long as those who didn’t need the money, got their share of it.

Now, all of a sudden with President Joe Biden in the White House, Republicans’ priorities have changed. Republicans in the House, including all of the Louisiana House delegation, all voted no against the bill. Instead of giving a coherent reason of why they voted “no” on the bill, they all said what has been said so many times when a Democrat spending bill is up for debate pending passage. Listen to what Louisiana’s Republicans representatives said. The top Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise said that the bill, “was bloated” with non-coronavirus related spending, according to media reports. Mike Johnson (R-Benton) said that the bill was a “Democratic wish list of left wing policies”. Clay Higgins(R-Lafayette), called the bill a monstrosity of “waste spending and liberal wish list items” according to media reports. Notice a pattern here of the worn-out phrases used by Republicans to fire up their base, implying that there is nothing in the bill for them. The bill passed by the House is to help people who need it in all fifty states, no matter what political party they are affiliated. Republicans such as Scalise and Co. know this. Have you heard any of them say that conservatives who need COVID relief help from the bill be denied? No!

Republican Garrett Graves(R-Baton Rouge) sings the same tune with his colleagues, saying that the bill, is a Democrat spending “free for all”, and that taxpayers “deserve better”. Notice the words “free” and “taxpayers”, no doubt implying that “free” is for bailouts and now, all of a sudden, they are for the taxpayers? That empathy for the taxpayers appeared to have gone out of the window when Donald Trump signed the stimulus bill back when he was president. Republicans “agreed” to what they liked in the bill but disagreed if they felt the bill went too far, such as the amount of the stimulus checks ($1,400 to $1,000) and unemployment benefits with Republicans wanting the lesser amounts. Republicans in Congress don’t need the money, but thousands of their conservative (as well as liberal) constituents here in Louisiana and the nation need it. They must be afraid to vote for anything that will give a victory to President Joe Biden so early in his presidency, knowing that they will incur the wrath of Donald Trump when election time comes around. Republicans will continue to play on the ignorance of some in their base, who will get their information from media sound bites, consisting of phrases that will convince them that Democrats will spend “their” money on wasteful projects, without knowing that they too, are now being left out. Shame on Louisiana Republicans.