The House was expected to pass a $2 trillion relief package Friday morning to ease the economic burden that has resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. But Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie may have just delayed that relief from reaching businesses and families.
Massie announced Friday morning that he would defy GOP leadership and request a roll-call vote on the relief package, which means that if 216 lawmakers are not physically present in the House to vote on the measure, the relief package will remain at a standstill until a quorum is reached. While New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also considered blocking the bill, it seemed set to pass quickly on Friday until Massie announced his intervention.
This roll-call vote is irresponsible for several reasons, the most obvious being that it forces representatives to abandon isolation and group together in direct violation of health officials’ social distancing guidelines. Some representatives have tested positive for COVID-19, and others have remained self-quarantined out of respect for their other colleagues.
Massie is now callously undermining the caution this pandemic demands.
Massie’s objection to the relief package is understandable. He disagrees with the unnecessary, irrelevant pork that legislators managed to hide within it, such as the $25 million allocated to the Kennedy Center, grants for the National Endowment for the Humanities and Arts, and more.
People should be rightly frustrated with this unnecessary spending. But forcing the House to reach a quorum is not the way to express that frustration, especially since the bill is going to pass anyway. Instead, Massie has only increased uncertainty for small businesses that are suffering and for the record number of people who have already filed for unemployment. If Congress does not provide them financial relief and hope, the economy will suffer even more.
The coronavirus relief bill is not perfect. It might not even be good. But it is better than nothing. And given a choice, most people would prefer inadequate help to no help at all.
