Colorado lawmakers respond to COVID-relief deal

DENVER (KKTV) - Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are voicing their opinion on the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package passed by the U.S. House Monday night.

The package cleared the Senate soon after. Lawmakers included a $1.4 trillion catchall spending bill and thousands of pages that equated to a massive bundle of bipartisan legislation.

Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn from Colorado issued the following statement:

“I was pleased to vote in favor of the first part of this package which included a 3% pay raise for our troops, provides $1.375 billion in border wall funding, and fully funds our nation’s law enforcement. However, I voted against the second part of this package, which increases non-defense spending by $12.5 billion dollars over the budget caps. This legislation included many unrelated provisions such as $23.9 billion-dollars for green new deal loan guarantees, $10 billion dollars to bail out the USPS, $180 million increase for the EPA, $40 million dollars for the Kennedy Center, and $10 million for gender programs in Pakistan. This legislation lays the groundwork for a “Climate Security Advisory Council” and contains COVID19 relief which is overly broad. For example, this legislation includes a $300 weekly federal supplemental unemployment benefit that will unfortunately make one half of Americans receive more by staying home than if they went back to their jobs. It also provides a $600 stimulus check to all Americans whether they are employed or not. The $600-dollar stimulus checks should be targeted, and falls short of focusing support on those who need it most, individuals who have lost their jobs and are suffering from state-mandated lockdowns. This is a not a way to effectively legislate. This omnibus is the longest bill in history, numbering 5593 pages, and the second largest spending bill. To make matters worse, the full text of this bill was not released until hours before Members were expected to vote on its content. In the future, we must allow Members of Congress to engage in negotiation and debate, not craft legislation in secret behind closed doors in the 11th hour, just days before Christmas. This year the process failed. Moving forward we must do better.”
-Congressman Lamborn

Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement:

Other Colorado lawmakers shared their feelings on social media:

I voted tonight for the COVID relief bill because it is long overdue, and we simply can’t allow unemployment & SNAP benefits to expire.

But let’s be clear — it is not nearly enough.

We must do much more.

And I’ll keep fighting for relief that meets the scale of this crisis.
— Rep. Joe Neguse (@RepJoeNeguse) December 22, 2020

BREAKING: The House just passed a COVID-relief deal that includes:

✅ $600 direct stimulus checks
✅ $300/wk in enhanced unemployment benefits
✅ Rent/eviction moratorium
✅ $325B for small businesses

Much more still needs to be done to get people the help they need.
— Rep. Diana DeGette (@RepDianaDeGette) December 22, 2020