Utah congressmen vote against $3 trillion coronavirus relief 'wish list' bill

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah congressmen voted against the $3 trillion HEROES Act that would send another round of stimulus check to Americans.

With a 208-199 vote, the House advanced the coronavirus relief bill on Friday. Not one member of the Utah delegation voted in favor of the bill.

Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) called the "dead-end measure" a "political 'wish-list'" that was unrelated to public health and the economic crisis.

“This isn’t a plan, it’s a wish-list," he stated in a press release.

At a time when thousands of people are sick, millions are out of work, and small businesses face bankruptcy, we should be laser-focused on a strategy that opens up business and gets people back to work while also addressing the public health crisis caused by this virus. Republicans and Democrats need to come together on a plan to put this crisis behind us and not waste time with party politic

The congressman said the bill did not need to include a tax cut for the wealthy, or "a heavy-handed government control of manufacturing that interferes with private sector partnerships getting frontline heroes much-needed personal protective equipment."

McAdams, however, did support more flexibility for the Paycheck Protection Program and a "fix" for the Adult Dependent payment gap that denied some Utahns a relief paycheck.

Congressman Chris Stewart voted no as well, calling the bill a "socialist wish list."

“Speaker Pelosi has delayed every critical funding bill by trying to push her far-left agenda," he stated in a press release. "Now, she is wasting more time and money on something she knows won’t become law. This has nothing to do with coronavirus. This is about pushing socialist priorities and Pelosi doesn’t seem to mind the $3 trillion price tag.”

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) said in a video that the proposal is based on rebuilding “social ideas or bailouts” for entities that have nothing to do with the pandemic.

“To throw large chunks of change at state programs in the hopes that may mysteriously change is putting on the backs of people a future burden that probably cannot be undone,” he said.

We should take lessons from the past. This is not the time to go down this approach, not the time to go down this road.

The bill would offer a fresh round of $1,200 direct cash aid to individuals, increased to up to $6,000 per household. It allots $75 billion for more coronavirus testing and $175 billion to launch a housing assistance fund to help pay rents and mortgages.

It also includes $200 billion in “hazard pay” for essential workers on the front lines of the crisis.

Republican senators have described the bill as "dead on arrival" in the upper chamber, while its majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has dismissed the package as "another big laundry list of pet priorities."

2News reached out to Rep. John Curtis' office for comment.