Colorado Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley), who moonlights as the State Republican Party Chairman (or vice versa) had his third chance to vote for coronavirus relief legislation today.
As Justin Wingerter writes for The Denver Post:
With the apparent support of all but one Coloradan, the U.S. House passed the largest economic stimulus package in American history Friday, a more than $2 trillion agreement to boost a national economy ravaged by coronavirus.
The bill passed on a voice vote, a tactic used for uncontroversial legislation. As a result, House members were not required to record where they stood on the historic bill. But in comments before, only one Coloradan signaled opposition.
“I agree we are facing an unprecedented emergency, one tied directly to China’s nefarious actions. However, as President Trump said, we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” said Rep. Ken Buck in a speech on the House floor.
Buck has been consistent in his opposition of new funding to combat coronavirus — whether to help first responders or the American economy — as well as his general opposition to, well, science. Buck has been vocal about his disagreement with the idea of closing businesses where people tend to congregate in groups, and he reiterated on Friday that he believes we’re almost done with this virus problem anyway:
“There is no attempt by Congress to reduce spending elsewhere in the budget to pay for this bill. The sad truth is that most of this money in this bill is unrelated to fighting the coronavirus. We believe that the fight against the virus will take six to eight weeks, yet this bill spends money decades into the future,” added Buck, who is the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, during his remarks Friday.
Congressman Jason Crow (D-Aurora) had a much different take, which seems to place him well within the overwhelming majority of Members of Congress:
“Our country and the American people are in crisis and it requires our action now,” said Crow, of Aurora, in a speech on the House floor Friday. “To be clear, this is not a perfect bill, but it is the bill that America needs today.”
Let’s recap Rep. Buck’s record over the last few weeks:
♦ Thursday, March 5: Buck is one of only two House Members to vote “NO” on coronavirus relief legislation aimed at providing emergency resources for first responders and other healthcare professionals. The bill quickly passed through the Senate and was signed into law by President Trump.
♦ Saturday, March 14: Buck votes “NO” on the second major piece of coronavirus legislation, known as The Families First Coronavirus Response Act. This bill also quickly passed through the Senate and was signed into law by President Trump.
♦ Friday, March 27: Buck completes the trifecta and opposes a $2 trillion stimulus package that had already sailed through the U.S. Senate without a single vote of opposition and will absolutely be signed into law by President Trump as soon as it hits his desk. And get this: Buck didn’t even have to record an official vote (Congress approved the measure by a “voice vote”) but he still insisted on making it clear that he would not support legislation to provide financial relief to struggling Americans.
Congressman Ken Buck absolutely doesn’t get it, and neither does Republican Party Chairman Ken Buck. These “positions” probably won’t cost Buck his Congressional seat in 2020, because he’s firmly entrenched in a strong GOP district. His hot takes on coronavirus probably won’t cost him his State Party Chairmanship, either, in part because state GOP leaders are equally baffled about how to respond to the outbreak.
But if you think Buck’s actions this month are going to age well, both politically and in general, that’s a bet we wouldn’t hesitate to accept.
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Interesting. I don't seem to recall Mr. Buck calling for cuts in spending to pay for the billionaire and corporate tax cut in 2017. Maybe I missed something??
Nope. You didn't miss a thing.
If they’d only called it a “tax-cut something” . . .
(just called it that, it wouldn’t actually have had to have been one; almost never is anyway)
. . . then not only would have Buckles The Clown been able to support it, but he’d also be able to explain to us how it was going to pay for itself!!?
Actually, it does appear the lobbyists did manage to pour $280 billion in business tax cuts into the trough
Darn fine print! Here’s the link to the article — hopefully that will be readable: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/26/senate-stimulus-bill-coronavirus-2-trillion-list-what-is-in-it/
Today's winner:
Sure it had to have some corporate tax cuts, probably several, in it, HD. What bill doesn’t these days — I mean, I’ll bet Mitch doesn’t even open the envelope of his Caviar of The Month bill but what some corporate donor somewhere doesn’t get a huge break??
My point is that they didn’t call it a tax cut bill! Hell, you think Buck reads any of these these bills?! Really?! Does anyone?! Nope.
They forgot to title it a “Tax Cut Bill” — so how can we expect Buck to know that it is??
Good point. BTW, I just took a closer look, and it appears Trump got his tax cut included in the bill afterall:
How about an amendment to the bill opting out the legislative districts for those opposed to this? Or is this just for show Congressman $uck?
Headline erratum.
0 for 3 and not O for 3 as written.
"China’s nefarious actions."
No.
Here is what you need to know-"Why Is Russia's Coronavirus Case Count So Low?"
Here is the answer.
The KGB's man in Washington, Barack Hussein Obama, and a deep-state CIA team created a lab in Kenya where both the virus and a vaccine were developed.
Trump got his vaccine during his private meeting with Putin in Helsinki.
The virus was released in China to weaken the regime of Xi Jinping.
The virus was released in the USA to allow Trump to declare martial law and cancel the election in November.
Russians know how to play chess.
except for the first two lines, I’m with you.
they ( the team) don’t seem worried enough to practice social distancing because they have had the vaccine.
BTW Where is Steven Miller? Where IS Mick Mulvaney?
Where the fuck is Rudy?
I don’t get (can’t watch)Fox news. anybody seen a recent video?
Russia’s CV19 count isn’t “low”. The Moscow Times, Russia’s only independent news source, has been tracking cases.: 1264 positives, 5 deaths reported. Untested numbers are likely much higher.
Russia is preparing to close borders March 30. Those over 65 (except for Putin) were told to stay at home. Oligarchs are buying up and hoarding the ventilators. It’s going to get as ugly in Russia as anywhere else.
Like Italy and the United States, Russia will be a case study of “too little too late” in pandemic preparation. They will have heavy loss of life and health.
It might be good news for our country, as it’s less likely that Putin can spare much thought for messing with U.S. He may be pressing Trump harder to pay back his loans, though- and it’s still going to be a battle to track how the 500 Bn rescue funds are spent.
Quite a yarn, Barnes. I'm pretty sure Buck just voted against it because he knows his Welled County prepper base won't come out of their abandoned missile silos to cash their gubmint checks.
Yes, they will. They'll be first in line.
No need. The anti-gummint clan gets their checks by direct deposit!