Republicans are touting benefits of $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill despite voting against it
- Republicans are touting benefits of the COVID-19 relief legislation they opposed in Congress.
- Mitch McConnell said Republicans would have a "talk" with Americans about the bill's issues.
- Meanwhile, funding for healthcare and restaurants is being praised by some GOP members.
For months, Congressional Republicans have been unanimously opposed to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that was backed by President Joe Biden and signed into law in March.
The stimulus package, which included $1,400 direct stimulus payments for individuals, funding for state and local governments, $300 in federal unemployment aid through September, and an expansion of the child tax credit, among other measures, did not receive a single GOP vote of support in the House or Senate.
After the bill's passage, GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky slammed the legislation as "a classic example of big-government Democratic overreach in the name of Covid relief" and "one of the worst pieces of legislation" he's seen in his 36 years in the Senate.
He also said the GOP would "talk repeatedly" to the American public about the true contents of the bill in the coming months.
However, some Republicans are now touting popular elements of the bill they railed against on Capitol Hill.
Conservative freshman GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina pointed to health funding in his district in a tweet last week, including nearly $2.5 million for the Appalachian Mountain Community Health Centers and $4.6 million for Western North Carolina Community Health Services that was part of the legislation.
"Happy to announce that NC-11 was awarded grants from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services," he wrote. "Proud to see tax-payer dollars returned to NC-11."
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison took note of Hawthorn's tweet and blasted the congressman and the GOP.
"Come'on man," he wrote. "@RepCawthorn is trying to take credit for the grants HE VOTED AGAINST. Republicans have no shame."
Cawthorn spokesman Micah Bock told NBC News in a statement last week that the congressman uses his social media account "to post information relevant to his constituents in NC-11."
"Oftentimes this means providing relevant federal information on proposals that the congressman does not support," he said. "There are portions of the American Rescue Plan that benefit NC-11, however, bills are not passed in portions, they are passed entirely or not at all, and this bill does significantly more harm than good."
GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi praised the billions in targeted funding for the restaurant industry that he championed - it was part the final package that he voted against.
"Independent restaurant operators have won $28.6 billion worth of targeted relief," he tweeted after the bill passed. "This funding will ensure small businesses can survive the pandemic by helping to adapt their operations and keep their employees on the payroll."
When asked by CNN's Manu Raju why he didn't support the full measure, Wicker said he didn't have to accept the full measure and was critical of the questioning.
"Just because there's one good provision in a $1.9 trillion bill, doesn't mean I have to vote for it ... I think it's a stupid question. I'm not going to vote for $1.9 trillion just because it has a couple of good provisions in it."
Congressional Republicans have currently found themselves boxed into a corner on the issue.
A Pew Research poll released shortly before the bill's signing showed 70% of US adults backing the legislation, with only 28% of respondents opposed to the measure.
Even 41% of Republican or Republican-leaning respondents, a significant minority, backed the COVID-19 relief bill.
National GOP leaders have pledged to use the bill as a campaign attack against Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections, but nearly three dozen Republican mayors across the county, from David Holt of Oklahoma City to John Giles of Mesa, backed the legislation.