The $900 billion coronavirus relief package passed in the Senate by a 92-6 vote Monday night.
One of the six Republican senators to vote against the bill was Florida’s Rick Scott.
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Scott released a statement explaining his decision, blasting the length of the bill and all the spending attached to it.
I supported and fought for many of the Covid provisions in last night’s bill.
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) December 22, 2020
Unfortunately they were attached to an omnibus spending bill that was thousands of pages long and chock full of handouts to special interests and wasteful spending. I couldn’t support it. pic.twitter.com/7nsFYMj6M8
“Early this afternoon, we were finally provided the text of the combined $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill and $900 billion COVID relief bill. It is almost 5,600 pages long and we’re expected to vote on it tonight. Who in their right mind thinks that this a responsible way of governing?” Scott wrote in a news release Monday evening that came under the title “Washington is Broken.”
He concluded by writing: “We have to stop operating this way; there is no excuse for the way Washington treats the American taxpayers. I’ve repeatedly voted against enormous and wasteful spending bills. The easy route is simply to go along as Congress continues to do harm to future generations of Americans, but I will not be a part of it.”
Florida’s other senator, Marco Rubio, voted in favor of the bill that sped through the House and Senate in a matter of hours. The House approved it by a 359-53 margin.
If signed by President Donald Trump, as is expected, the bill would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.
The five other GOP senators who voted against the bill were Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.