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Cole Slams Radical House Democratic Proposal to Deal with COVID-19

March 23, 2020

Moore, OK – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) reacted after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a legislative proposal by House Democrats related to the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Speaker Pelosi today unveiled an 1,100-page transparently partisan, left-wing bill to confront COVID-19. Its aim is not to deal with this coronavirus, but to use the crisis created by the virus to advance a far-left ideological agenda that has nothing to do with the spreading pandemic," said Cole. "It is worth noting that this bill has gone through no committee and has had no Republican input whatsoever.

"The Democratic bill proposes things like same-day voter registration, early voting, a $15-dollar minimum wage, racial and gender diversity on corporate boards, tax credits for solar and wind energy, carbon neutral requirements for airlines and the like. What do any of these things have to do with combating COVID-19 and its economic consequences? Absolutely nothing!

"The House Democratic bill is a transparent effort to take advantage of a real crisis to advance a left-wing partisan agenda. These radical proposals would never pass the Senate nor be signed into law by the president on their own. Clearly, Democrats hope they can blackmail Republicans and President Trump into enacting them by tying them to much needed relief for the American people during a time of crisis. That is not going to happen.

"I urge my Democratic colleagues in both chambers to sit down and negotiate a coronavirus relief package in good faith. I advise them to abandon this thinly disguised effort at legislative blackmail. It will backfire. The American people will neither forget nor forgive a party that tried to take advantage of their suffering to advance a left-wing political agenda."