Name: Oklahoma lawmakers to oppose $1.9 trillion bill, while Holt urges passage
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Oklahoma lawmakers to oppose $1.9 trillion bill, while Holt urges passage

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Chris Casteel As the House prepares to consider a $1.9 trillion spending package that includes more direct payments and unemployment assistance, Oklahoma’s five members are united with most other Republicans in opposition, saying the bill is excessive and includes many provisions unrelated to the pandemic.Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Tulsa, recently likened the federal unemployment aid to welfare, while Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, said the government hasn’t spent the nearly $900 billion previously approved for pandemic relief.The package does have support from Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt and Norman Mayor Brea Clark, who signed a U.S. Conference of Mayors letter to congressional leaders this month seeking aid for local governments.The Democratic-controlled House is scheduled to take up the American Rescue Plan on Friday, with Senate consideration to follow in the next two weeks. Democratic leaders hope to have the bill ready for President Joe Biden to sign into law by mid-March.The measure includes spending on pandemic-related testing, vaccinations and other health care needs, though the biggest proposed expenditures are for stimulus payments, unemployment aid and economic assistance to state and local governments.A third round of direct payments would be funded, with most Americans receiving $1,400 per person. The proposed adjusted gross income threshold for full payments is $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for couples filing jointly.The bill would extend federal unemployment benefits through August, and increase them to $400; that money would be in addition to state benefits.“Millions of Americans remain out of work, forced to leave their careers as entire industries crumble,” the House Budget Committee said in its report on the bill.“Women — especially mothers and women of color — are exiting the workforce at alarming rates, eight out of 10 minority-owned businesses are on the brink of closure, and without intervention, vital unemployment benefits are set to expire for more than 11.4 million workers in just a few short weeks.”Hern said the federal unemployment benefits have created a disincentive to work.“This additional payment prevents our families from returning to the workforce, with over 50% of recipients getting paid more to stay on welfare than to go back to work,” he said.In its analysis of the bill, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said “expansion and extension of unemployment insurance benefits could increase the unemployment rate as well as decrease labor force participation throughout the period for which those benefits would be in place.”But Democrats and some economists have dismissed those concerns, arguing that the priority should be assisting the millions of people out of work.The House bill includes $350 billion for state, tribal and local governments, with fewer strings than the money provided last year in the relief bill known as the CARES Act.Holt said on Twitter on Thursday that he expects Oklahoma City to receive more than $100 million from the bill.“This time, it is proposed we could use the funds to address cuts in city services, something that was not explicitly possible with our 2020 allocation,” Holt said. “This means we could have the potential to fully restore the across-the-board cuts the city manager and the council had no choice but to make in this year’s budget.”Asked about the House rescue package on FOX Business on Thursday, Gov. Kevin Stitt said the proposed state aid is “a bailout for the liberal states” that took stricter measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.“It really punishes Oklahoma and states that have fully reopened,” Stitt said in an interview in which he touted the state’s budget “surplus” and claimed success in dealing with the pandemic.Stitt and the Oklahoma Legislature have had some friction over the $1.26 billion in CARES Act funding directed to the state last year, much of which was spent on building up the state’s testing infrastructure and its inventory of personal protective equipment. A legislative oversight office has questioned some spending decisions, as well as the administration’s transparency. Stitt’s office has rejected the criticism as political.Confusion and controversy dogged Oklahoma County's decisions on how to spend nearly $50 million in federal pandemic aid last year.The House bill also includes $170 billion for the U.S. Department of Education, with nearly $129 million going to common schools and most of the rest directed to higher education. Republicans have complained that only a small portion of the education money will be spent in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.That claim stems from a Congressional Budget Office analysis that says most of the $113 billion appropriated by Congress last year for education hasn’t been spent; the CBO said it anticipates that “the bulk of spending of funds” provided in the $1.9 trillion bill would be spent after 2021.Supporters of the funding say schools will need money in later years as they try to make up for the setbacks in learning caused by the pandemic.The House bill also includes an increase in the minimum wage, from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, though the provision may violate Senate rules on what can be in the legislation.

Chris Casteel As the House prepares to consider a $1.9 trillion spending package that includes more direct payments and unemployment assistance, Oklahoma’s five members are united with most other Republicans in opposition, saying the bill is excessive and includes many provisions unrelated to the pandemic.Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Tulsa, recently likened the federal unemployment aid to welfare, while Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, said the government hasn’t spent the nearly $900 billion previously approved for pandemic relief.The package does have support from Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt...

Oklahoma lawmakers to oppose $1.9 trillion bill, while Holt urges passage

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