WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) today blasted House passage of the $1.9 trillion Pelosi Payoff to Progressives Act:

“The Pelosi Payoff to Progressives Act is another instance of the swamp taking care of the swamp rather than hardworking Americans. The bill contains a $350 billion bailout for locked-down, poorly managed states with no strings attached. The sneaky formula used by Democrats ensures that most of the money goes to liberals in California and New York rather than to rural communities. Pelosi’s Payoff also provides an additional 15 weeks of paid leave to federal bureaucrats so they can stay home with children who have remote school while the rest of America is left with the consequences of continued school closures.

“The Democrats’ bill is also rife with wasteful spending. Hundreds of billions of Americans’ dollars go towards funding a liberal wish-list, such as Nancy Pelosi’s California underground rail project, Planned Parenthood, and environmental justice. Americans deserve better than this costly and corrupt spending bill. It’s time to reopen schools and end the lockdowns. That’s real stimulus that will help our nation recover more quickly.”

Related Materials:

Ranking Member Comer released information from the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Inspector General showing $46 billion in CARES Act funding provided to state and local governments remains unspent. The Pelosi Payoff contains another $350 billion to bail out locked-down states.

During the Oversight Committee’s consideration of the Pelosi Payoff, Democrats opposed every Republican amendment, including amendments requiring states receiving funding to open schools.

Ranking Member Comer and House Budget Committee Ranking Member Jason Smith (R-Mo.) introduced a resolution requiring President Biden to provide the House of Representatives with information on unspent COVID-19 stimulus funding.

In an op-ed published by Fox News earlier this week, Ranking Member Comer and Budget Committee Ranking Member Smith outlined how the Democrats’ spending bill is “the wrong plan, at the wrong time, for all the wrong reasons.”

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee outlined the wasteful spending in the Pelosi Payoff in “Waste Watch.”

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