Florida Rep. Ted Deutch (D) and Senator Marco Rubio (R) involved themselves in a verbal spar this week over the HEROES Act. While the former argued that Americans would have benefitted from the bill, the latter argued that it wasn’t the proper move to make at the time.
According to the National Taxpayers Union, “the HEROES Act contains hundreds of billions of dollars in provisions that are superfluous, unnecessary, wasteful, or unhelpful in fighting the current public health and economic emergencies.”
Furthermore, included in the bill are “a multiemployer pension bailout, a suspension of the $10,000 limit on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, and a $25 billion Postal Service bailout.”
Senator Rubio sent out a tweet that questioned that the “Fed warned the economy showing weakness concentrated in sectors most hurt by the pandemic which poses considerable risks to the economic outlook but the Senate is going to spend weeks on impeachment trial of a President no longer in office?”
In response, Deutch commented that “the Heroes Act would have helped. House Democrats passed it. Twice. You blocked it. Twice.”
The Heroes Act would have helped. House Democrats passed it. Twice.
You blocked it. Twice. https://t.co/GJdwvC4UWO
— Rep. Ted Deutch (@RepTedDeutch) January 28, 2021
The HEROES Act remains a controversial issue because, as expressed by the National Taxpayers Union, “economic relief measures from Congress should be as targeted and fiscally responsible as possible, especially given Congress has already added $3 trillion to the national debt to fight these crises.”
With lawmakers actively trying to efficiently and effectively respond to the growing COVID-19 pandemic, the tension between the parties and within the parties appear to pose additional obstacles as Americans continue to financially struggle.
