The vast majority of the COVID-19 relief is not targeted for actual pandemic relief, and is intended to back Democrat-controlled states, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa. \u2026<\/b>
\nThe vast majority of the COVID-19 relief is not targeted for actual pandemic relief, and is intended to back Democrat-controlled states, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) told The Epoch Times at CPAC on Sunday. The congressman explained that the $1.9 trillion bill is actually an addition to a trillion dollars already allotted for COVID-19 relief. \u201cI think most of the American people need to know, we already had a trillion dollars worth of money allocated, but not yet spent. Now we\u2019re gonna throw another $1.9 trillion on top of that,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cAnd only about 9 percent of that\u2019s going to actually go to COVID relief, the other is going to go to backing blue states that have not been able to run themselves the right way.\u201d Kelly expressed his annoyance with the argument that it is government money and that it\u2019s acceptable for them to spend it as such, pointing out that it adds to the national debt. \u201cNot one penny of it is government money. Every single penny of it came out of your pocket, you\u2019re going to be co-signing on a debt that goes far into the future. And we know right now, between funded and unfunded liabilities, the total debt in the United States is over $130 trillion,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWe talk so quickly about \u2018Oh, it\u2019s $30 trillion we\u2019re up to right now.\u2019 I said no, no\u2014funded and unfunded liabilities. $130 trillion. We\u2019re spending money like there\u2019s no tomorrow.\u201d In an attempt to bypass the necessity for Republican votes, Democrats are trying to push the COVID-19 relief bill through the budget reconciliation process. The congressman said that if one takes a look at the item for item list of where the money is panned to be spent, one can find that a lot of it is allocated to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s (D-Calif.) promises. \u201cWhat in this spend is actually going to help people that have had COVID? And then you get down to the point\u2014no, it\u2019s not, it\u2019s going to go for a lot of other features, a lot of other promises that Speaker Pelosi made. And that\u2019s what\u2019s going to come to fruition right now,\u201d Kelly said. All Democrat senators would have to vote in favor to pass the bill, however, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have expressed objection to adding a raise to the minimum wage in the bill. The Congressional Budget Office released a report projecting that an estimated million people would be \u201clifted\u201d out of poverty with an increase in the minimum wage, but the report also found that the change would result in the loss of 1.4 million jobs.<\/p>\n