On Sunday, GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn claimed during an interview on Fox News that the COVID-19 relief bill was delayed because Democrats “wanted people to suffer.” But her comments were quickly challenged by host Eric Shawn, who questioned the veracity of her remarks.
“The Democrats did not want timely relief prior to the election,” Blackburn –who voted against the latest COVID-19 relief bill– said. “They wanted people to suffer and Nancy Pelosi told us why. She said because they felt like it would help them win the election,” she added before being interrupted by Shawn.
“Do you think it really is fair to say Democrats wanted people to suffer? I mean, they don’t want people to suffer,” he replied.
“They delayed relief when people were saying we desperately need relief,” Blackburn argued. “They delayed money to small businesses when small businesses were saying we need another round of PPP. That was a choice they made.”
Blackburn went on to insist that only 9% of the latest relief bill is related to COVID-19, a claim that Politifact has rated as “half true.”
“So whether you want to say it was fair or not fair, it is an action they took,” she continued. “And it is an admission that they have made. So I think it was just really unfortunate that it was their choice.”
“But do you really need to bail out the blue states that have mismanaged their funds and have mismanaged their pensions?” she quipped.
“But you also know,” Shawn interjected, “your state gets $6 billion, Florida gets $16 billion, Texas gets $27 billion. So red states get a lot of money too.”
“It is immoral to continue to pile debt on our children and grandchildren,” Blackburn opined. “It is selfish not to sit down and work this out so that we are not adding to the debt. There are all sorts of good things that you can do with money but we have to remember, the federal government only has money that the taxpayer sends to them.”
“Socialism is fine until you run out of other people’s money,” she added. “And this continuing to say you’re going to pick winners and losers with federal government money, which is taxpayer money, is completely inappropriate and, yes, it does need to stop.”
Watch the video below from Fox News.
