Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday that he expects Democratic “radicals” to use another coronavirus stimulus bill to seek more money for special interests.
“Yeah, look, I think it’s very likely that the House, where the radicals are in control, would love to blackmail the country. They tried on this last bill and failed,” Gingrich told “Fox & Friends.”
“So they are salivating at the idea that they could produce a new bill with everything they have ever wanted in life and somehow blackmail the president into signing it.” (RELATED: Pelosi’s Coronavirus Bill Pushes Provisions Unrelated To The Crisis)
Critics had accused Pelosi of stuffing the legislation with a multitude of proposals that did not directly affect the COVID-19 pandemic but may have helped Democratic supporters.
The Fox News contributor said he believes the bills that have already been passed to combat the coronavirus outbreak will require assessment by the “technical corrections act” because he believes some of the spending may be inappropriate.
“But I don’t think the Republicans in the Senate or the president should accept any kind of radical policies from [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and AOC [Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-Cortez] and that group in order to get this stuff done,” Gingrich told Fox.
“I think the country won’t stand for it and I think they can make a very good case that all we need is to help the country — not to enact the Democrat party’s platform.” (RELATED: ‘They Think The American People Are Morons’: Sen. Kennedy Blasts ‘Spending Porn’ In Coronavirus Bill)
The former speaker advised caution and insisted it will be necessary to “tweak” existing coronavirus legislation. Gingrich also said it would be imprudent to pass another stimulus package “until you see how it’s working.”
“This is a huge amount of money being poured into the economy in a variety of different ways and when you count the extra money the Federal Reserve has now liberated it may be as much as $6 trillion.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) makes a statement about coronavirus disease (COVID-19) economic relief legislation from the Speakers Lobby of the U.S. Capitol Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/Pool
Trump signed the $2.2 trillion phase 3 coronavirus stimulus bill on Friday.
Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats in Congress succeeded in passing a coronavirus relief bill that puts “workers first.”