Hillary Clinton says even with 75% Americans' support, 0 Republicans voted for relief bill

As the US Congress approved the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that not a single House Republicans voted for the American Rescue Plan. On March 11, Congress approved the landmark bill with 220-211 votes in favour of the plan. While President Joe Biden and Democrats claimed a triumph on the bill, GOP lawmakers, on the other hand, opposed the package as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the crisis are easing. 

Taking to Twitter, Clinton said that even though 75 percent of Americans support the relief bill, not a single Republican voted for it. She noted that since the pandemic began, nearly 526,000 Americans have died of the deadly virus. Around 22 million jobs have also been lost, but zero House Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan, which would give families relief and repair the country’s economy, Clinton said. 

Republicans say ‘country will pay price’ 

For the Democrats, the bill is essentially a canvas on which they've painted their core beliefs that government programs can be a benefit, not a bane, to millions of people and that spending huge sums on such efforts can be a cure, not a curse. Republicans, on the other hand, noted that they’ve overwhelmingly supported five previous relief bills that Congress has approved since the pandemic. But they also said that the latest bill, however, “means serious problems immediately on the horizon,” while referring to the added federal borrowing the measure will force. 

The Republicans have said that the $1.9 trillion relief bill solely reflected Democratic goals by setting aside money for family planning programs and federal workers who take leave to cope with COVID-19 and failing to require that shuttered schools accepting aid reopen their doors. It is worth noting that one of the dominant features of the bill is initiatives making it one of the biggest federal efforts in years to assist lower and middle-income families. According to AP, the Republicans warned that the country will pay a price for the extra spending. 

(Image: AP)