Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said Thursday that Democrats are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic with their $1.9 trillion stimulus bill and said that it’s “like looting after a natural disaster.”
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“If you add up all of the coronavirus spending and then all the spending porn there’s no comparison — and to me, using a coronavirus bill to effectuate spending porn is like looting after a natural disaster and that’s why I voted against it,” Kennedy told “Fox & Friends.”
“President [Joe] Biden says it’s a coronavirus bill: my response is ‘right … and the stripper really likes you,'” he joked.
The Senator said he likes “trying to help people who are unemployed” but also wondered “why we have to give bucket loads of money to prisoners? Why do they need help? I don’t understand why we have to give money to people who are in our country illegally.” (RELATED: ‘Like Calling Harvey Weinstein A Feminist’: Sen. Kennedy Says Biden’s Stimulus Bill Has Little To Do With COVID-19)
Kennedy also said that it was counterproductive “to give $130 billion to schools that refuse to open.”
He said the Republicans tried to compromise on the bill with President Joe Biden. Kennedy said that Biden said he would meet them halfway.
“If he was meeting us halfway, he’s a damn poor judge of distance,” Kennedy said.
Biden’s stimulus package offers $1,400 direct payments to those Americans earning $75,000 or less or $2,800 to married couples with a combined salary of $150,000 or less. There are also $1,400 payments for each child living with a parent. (RELATED: ‘Chock Full Of Spending Porn’: Sen. Kennedy Blasts ‘Left Of Lenin, Neo-Socialist’ COVID-19 Stimulus Bill)
President Joe Biden speaks during an event with the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck at the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building March 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden announced that the government will purchase 100 million more doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
He said that while “most” Americans will be “happy to get the money,” they will also understand that it’s been borrowed.
“We don’t even have 5% of it and what I would like to see is President Biden call a press conference and answer these kinds of questions but I think it’s just a shame that … the Secret Service heroically jumps in front of President Biden if a reporter tries to ask him a question.”
Some economists have raised concerns that the spending bill could prompt an outbreak of hyperinflation.