Former Navy SEAL Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) is calling on Americans to hold the Democrats “accountable” for having “torpedoed” a bipartisan COVID-19 emergency bill that provides funds to small businesses to help cover payroll and rent and other coronavirus-related expenses, expands unemployment benefits, and quickly puts cash in struggling Americans’ pockets.
The real reason House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intervened in the eleventh hour to derail the Senate’s emergency bill, Crenshaw suggested, was to push her own bill containing a series of non-crisis-related Democratic wishlist items, included some Green New Deal policies and collective bargaining powers for unions. The political stunt, he said, will not be forgotten.
“Democrats torpedoed a bipartisan emergency bill that: -Provides payroll & rent for small business -Credit to businesses across America to keep them afloat – Cash in American’s pockets – unemployment benefits,” the popular Texas Republican wrote in the first of a series of tweets starting Sunday (posts below). “They have no good reasons. Just partisanship. Call your reps NOW.”
“Do Dems want a recession? A depression? How can they justify this?” he asked in a follow-up post. “This bill is critical for the livelihood of millions. Our country will be devastated without immediate help. Dems can lie all they want about ‘helping workers’ but now they are destroying their lives.”
“I am not one to make hyperbolic statements,” Crenshaw wrote in another post. “But what Senate Democrats have done is truly awful. This bill was negotiated in good faith. Been monitoring its progress all week. It can save our economy. And they killed it. Out of spite and bitterness. Hold Dems accountable.”
“We will not forget this,” Crenshaw wrote in response to a tweet by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blaming the decision to block the bill on its supposed inadequate “protections.” “More businesses are closing tomorrow while you peddle this lie. You literally stopped a good bill because it *didn’t have enough red tape*. You hate American businesses so much that you would sacrifice our economy out of pure contempt.”
On Monday, Crenshaw retweeted a thread by journalist Rachel Bovard, who obtained an early copy of the 1,400-page Pelosi bill, that highlights some of the new Democratic bill’s provisions, including bailing out the post office, mandating “risk limiting audits” of elections, as well as same-day voter registration, and other non-crisis-related, long-time Democrat wishlist items, among them more strict fuel emissions guidelines for airlines, wind and solar tax credits, and collective bargaining powers for unions.
“EVERYONE in America, Democrat and Republican, MUST read this thread,” Crenshaw wrote. “This is what Pelosi killed the rescue package for. ‘Corporate diversity requirement,’ ‘Airline carbon emissions,’ and the list goes on. Hold these people accountable. They are holding America hostage.”
Do Dems want a recession? A depression? How can they justify this? This bill is critical for the livelihood of millions. Our country will be devastated without immediate help. Dems can lie all they want about “helping workers” but now they are destroying their lives.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 23, 2020
I am not one to make hyperbolic statements. But what Senate Democrats have done is truly awful. This bill was negotiated in good faith. Been monitoring its progress all week. It can save our economy.
And they killed it. Out of spite and bitterness.
Hold Dems accountable.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 23, 2020
We will not forget this. More businesses are closing tomorrow while you peddle this lie. You literally stopped a good bill because it *didn’t have enough red tape*. You hate American businesses so much that you would sacrifice our economy out of pure contempt. #wewillnotforget https://t.co/mhDXytxZh8
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 23, 2020
Dems are lying about the rescue bill. They say it’s a “slush fund.”
In reality, loans to big businesses PROHIBIT increases in executive pay and stock buy backs. It’s in the bill, clear as day.
They don’t have real reasons for opposing this. This is pure, bitter partisanship.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 23, 2020
Here is the text on the $500B portion of the bill:
Direct Lending Limitations: executive total compensation may not exceed $425,000; prohibition of stock buybacks during the duration of the loan; borrowers must maintain existing payroll as of March 13.
Dems are lying.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 23, 2020
EVERYONE in America, Democrat and Republican, MUST read this thread. This is what Pelosi killed the rescue package for. “Corporate diversity requirement,” “Airline carbon emissions,” and the list goes on.
Hold these people accountable.
They are holding America hostage. https://t.co/gJ5pyN1NFG
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) March 23, 2020
As The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti reported Monday, early reports on Pelosi’s bill “show a piece of legislation packed with handouts, bailouts, and cash offerings to the Democrats’ top constituencies, as well as provisions demanding enforcement of the Green New Deal, easing voting restrictions, and strengthening union allies.”
After killing the Senate bill, the Democrats blamed provisions that they said amounted to a “slush fund” for corporate bailouts, but which is, as Zanotti explains, is actually a zero-interest loan program designed “to compensate businesses harmed by government lockdown” and which contains “clear restrictions on the $500 billion set aside to assist firms that have not recovered from the coronavirus lockdown within six months, including limits on funding corporate bonuses and stock buybacks.”
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