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Congressman Mike Garcia (1)

Garcia Votes Against Senate Version Of $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Package

Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, voted against the Senate version of the near $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package that was ultimately passed along party lines Wednesday, marking the second such vote against the package over the past several weeks.

On Wednesday, Garcia voted against the Senate’s version of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, which was ultimately approved in a mostly party-line 220-211 vote.

“COVID relief should be just that, relief,” Garcia wrote in a Tweet the day before the vote. “Instead, only 9% of the COVID ‘relief’ bill goes towards actual relief. This isn’t rocket science. Americans deserve actual relief, not a bill that sends their hard-earned taxpayer dollars to fund partisan pet projects.”

Garcia’s vote comes less than two weeks after he voted against the original House version of the COVID-19 stimulus package, which was ultimately approved in another mostly party-line 219-212 vote.

“I’m committed to providing Americans the support they need to combat COVID-19 and open our communities,” Garcia wrote in a post ahead of the first vote. “But a $1.9 trillion bill that only puts 9% towards COVID when the U.S. already has a $27 trillion debt is foolish.”

The two votes represent a break from his previous votes when it comes to COVID-19 stimulus, having voted in favor of the $900 billion stimulus package passed back in December.

“While this bill isn’t perfect, it funnels resources where they are most needed without the unnecessary spending found in Pelosi’s $3 (trillion) COVID-19 relief proposals,” Garcia said in a statement at the time. “As a fiscal conservative the size of this bill is staggering. But in the end, it is needed and may still not be enough for some small businesses and individuals who are suffering.”  

See Related: Garcia Votes Against $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Package

A week after that, Garcia was among Republicans in the House who voted in favor of increasing the size of COVID-19 stimulus checks in that package from $600 to $2,000, which ultimately failed.

“The reality is these checks are not helping us fight COVID but are helping us survive the government-induced lockdowns,” Garcia said in a statement at the time. “While I am a fiscal conservative, the original $600 was way too little, especially in SoCal, where the cost of living is higher, and in CA-25, where our unemployment rate is over 10%.”

The original package passed in the House would have provided direct payments of $1,400 to people earning less than $75,000, with the amount phasing out for those earning up to $100,000. Couples earning less than $150,000 a year would have received $2,800, and families with children would be eligible for an additional $1,400 per dependent.

Unlike the last two rounds of payments, adult dependents such as college students would be eligible for the payments.

Additionally, the package provided additional assistance for unemployed and uninsured Americans, as well as a bigger tax break for parents.

That package was then amended in the U.S. Senate, removing a $15 federal minimum wage provision and reducing the amount of unemployment benefits.

Additionally, the newly-passed bill phases out $1,400 stimulus checks at $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for couples. Under the original House package, stimulus checks would have phased out for individuals making between $75,000-$100,000 a year and couples making $150,000-$200,000.

Officials estimate that roughly eight million fewer households will get a check under the newly-passed package.

The COVID-19 stimulus package now goes to the desk of President Joe Biden, who White House officials say will sign the bill on Friday.


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Garcia Votes Against Senate Version Of $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Package

16 comments

  1. On Sunday, The New York Times reported that the bill passed by the Senate over the weekend includes an $86 billion bailout for failing union pension plans. The article’s subtitle informs readers that “Democrats pushed through a big aid measure for multiemployer pensions whose problems predate the pandemic.”
    The report by Mary Williams Walsh and Alan Rappeport tells us the $86 billion “has nothing to do with the pandemic” and represents “a taxpayer bailout for about 185 union pension plans that are so close to collapse that without the rescue, more than a million retired truck drivers, retail clerks, builders and others could be forced to forgo retirement income.”
    Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who led the pension bailout effort, told The Times, “It goes back to the fact that these workers didn’t do anything wrong. They have earned these pensions.”
    Two things, senator.
    First, the countless owners of small businesses who were forced to shut their doors because of the lockdowns didn’t do anything wrong, either.
    Second, the precarious condition of these union pension plans is the result of years of poor management. The state of these pensions was dire long before the pandemic reached our shores.
    The New York Times reported, it’s a union handout masquerading as pandemic relief,
    ON ITS OWN it is a massive scandal. Biden’s Bailout Bill is the biggest single act of corruption in U.S. history.

  2. Vote this guy out. He is not for his constiituents.

  3. Vote him out in 2022. He’s a despicable human being who does not care one wit for his constituents.

  4. Economists point to several factors the caused the pension crisis, including fewer businesses participating in the plans, and reductions in the size of the unionized workforce, thanks in major part to aggressive state government legislation that makes it harder for unions to exist. Add to that the fact that employers failed to contribute what they have promised toward their employee pension plans, and you have the current situation. 10 million hard-working Americans have contributed to their pension plans in good faith. They deserve the same support government willingly offers failing corporations and farmers without giving it a second thought.

  5. Berta González-Harper

    Emy and Emily, how do you figure Mike Garcia is against his constituents? He consistently votes to protect OUR taxpayer money from being stolen to benefit mismanaged entities like union pension plans and corrupt Pelosi’s other pet projects. Less than 9% of these trillions is for actual Covid-19 relief. I am grateful we have a fiscally conservative Congressman representing our 25th District instead of a Democrat/communist confiscating our money to squander for their cronies benefit. Unfortunately, your folks are spending like there is no tomorrow and under their tyranny there is not a good future for any of us.

    • Only $171 billion out of $1.9 trillion actually goes to REAL Covid relief. The rest is pure money laundering by our elected representatives – left or right. It is stealing from our future generations who, if it is even still possible, will have to pay it back. It’s tantamount to looting during a riot.

  6. Don’t be fooled. Read the bill for yourself. I have and if you are against this stimulus package, you may want to look at all of the 4.7 trillion that was wasted during the past 4 years. Oh the hypocrisy

  7. For those of you who agree with Garcia I urge you to send the money you receive to children and animal organizations. Don’t take the money. Simple

    • Or better yet, since all the Republicans want to complain about it, how about not giving ANY of them any money at all!! Give the Democrats their money too! Not only that, none of them should be given the Covid vaccination either, since they don’t want money spent on that! They all bitch and complain, but you don’t see any of them that WONT take the money! Or the shots! They talk outta both sides of their mouths! To hell with them! They are nothing but domestic terrorists that want to tear our great country apart!

    • Exactly!!! But they won’t!

  8. Thank you Mike Garcia for your vote.
    For all the people that wanted this to pass then they should be sent the $5,400 some odd bill and they can help fund the Silicon Valley tunnel for Nancy’s pet project. Oh also their kids and grandkids can pay for that. Also pay for bonuses for the government workers, who already have a job and never got laid off, let them pay for that.

  9. Wow, some people need to do their research!! Thank you Mr. Garcia for voting this down. This bill does not help the American people. It only helps the politicians and their pet projects. They just want it to pass because they add on all the projects they want funded, but couldn’t get funded if they were their own separate bill. Americans are getting $1,400, yet if all the pet projects were taken out we would get $6,000 each. This is what Republicans and some democrats were trying to change about the bill.

  10. Mike Garcia (Q-CA) 72% people want this that’s republicans also . They voted last year on a relief package only to give it to the 1%. Now that it helps the working class they don’t want it.Mike get off your bended knee go back in your office and read your DR. Seuss book.

    • Jim, This survey was based on the overly simply question “Do you want free money from the Govt”? It fails to account for the fact that so little is direct relief and most of it is wasted money not at all related to Covid or economic relief. When you ask people if they want to pay higher taxes to bail out other countries and pad Govt pensions, the overwhelming response is negative. Lets also remember than $1T of the last stimulus is still unspent.

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About Michael Brown

Michael Brown has lived in Santa Clarita his whole life. Graduating from Saugus High School in 2016, he continued to stay local by attending The Master’s University, where he achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. Michael joined KHTS in January of 2018 as a news intern, and has since gone on to become the News Director for the KHTS Newsroom. Since joining KHTS, Michael has covered many breaking news stories (both on scene and on air), interviewed dozens of prominent state and federal political figures, and interacted with hundreds of residents from Santa Clarita. When he is not working, Michael enjoys spending time with his family, as well as reading any comic book he can get his hands on.