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Vote Alert: The ‘gag and vote for it’ small-business-killing coronavirus emergency legislation

Vote Alert: The ‘gag and vote for it’ small-business-killing coronavirus emergency legislation

This was a vote on H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act emergency legislation, responding to the coronavirus outbreak by creating a paid sick leave entitlement mandate, providing for free coronavirus testing, expanding food assistance and unemployment welfare benefits, and putting new regulations on employers to provide additional protections for health care workers.

In times of crisis, it may be appropriate for governments to take extraordinary action to protect the people. The purpose of government, as articulated in the U.S. Constitution, is to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Providing for the safety of the American people during this outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus and taking reasonable steps to avert economic catastrophe is a legitimate role for the government.

However, a crisis is not an excuse to hurriedly enact bad policy, abandoning critical thought about the unintended consequences of government action. But that is precisely what happened here, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his fellow Republicans to “gag and vote” for this coronavirus response law. The actions called for in this legislation are bad policy that will have the unintended effect of harming small businesses struggling to survive the current pandemic and economic downturn while borrowing billions of dollars from China to pay for what America cannot afford.

The $105 billion worth of paid sick leave provisions enacted into law by this bill is ill-conceived. Private employers with fewer than 500 employees are required to provide up to 14 total weeks of leave, 12 weeks of which must be paid leave for employees who are necessarily absent from work because of the coronavirus, whether they are sick themselves or caring for someone else who is sick. Big businesses with more than 500 employees are exempt. In principle, any response to the coronavirus must be universal, but this policy is a mandate targeted at small businesses, many of whom will be incentivized to lay people off instead of paying for sick leave they cannot afford. The House of Representatives added tax credits for employers intended to defray the costs of this new entitlement, but small business groups opposed these provisions, arguing the mandates “presume liquidity and a tolerance for debt that simply does not exist at this time.” Businesses with fewer than 50 employees may apply for hardship waivers, but this will impose an additional bureaucratic cost on employers already struggling to meet their overhead costs.

The expansion of welfare policies, including billions of dollars of increased spending on food stamps and unemployment benefits, while intended to help those who cannot work during this crisis, may have the adverse effect of encouraging people not to work. Paying people to stay home will incentivize them to do just that, exacerbating the economic slowdown caused by preventive measures taken against the coronavirus instead of encouraging Americans to get back to work once the panic over this pandemic has ended.

Additionally, offsets to these new record levels of government spending offered by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., were rejected by the Senate, ensuring that this bill will be unpaid for and requiring that the United States go further in debt to China, a tyrannical regime whose demonstrated incompetence and dishonesty failed to contain the coronavirus outbreak and caused our present crisis.

Conservatives understand that the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the coronavirus outbreak may require extraordinary measures from the government in response, including policies many conservatives would typically object to. But there is no reason to abandon reason when thinking about which policies will actually help Americans and which will harm us in the long run. This legislation will harm Americans in the long run, and the “gag and vote for it” mentality offered from Senate Republicans is the height of irresponsibility and failed leadership.

The House of Representatives passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on March 14, 2020 at 12:51 a.m. ET in a roll call vote of 363 – 40.

The Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on March 18, 2020 at 3:32 p.m. ET in a roll call vote of 90 – 8.

To see how your elected officials stack up or other votes that compose the Liberty Score, view our full scorecard here.

CR position: NO


U.S. House of Representatives*

*Minority party (Republicans) in italics

YEAs — 363

Adams

Aderholt

Aguilar

Allen

Allred

Amodei

Armstrong

Arrington

Axne

Bacon

Baird

Balderson

Barr

Barragán

Bass

Beatty

Bera

Bergman

Bilirakis

Bishop (GA)

Blumenauer

Blunt Rochester

Bonamici

Bost

Boyle, Brendan F.

Brady

Brindisi

Brooks (AL)

Brooks (IN)

Brown (MD)

Buchanan

Bucshon

Burgess

Bustos

Butterfield

Calvert

Carbajal

Cárdenas

Carson (IN)

Carter (GA)

Carter (TX)

Cartwright

Case

Casten (IL)

Castor (FL)

Castro (TX)

Chabot

Cheney

Chu, Judy

Cicilline

Cisneros

Clark (MA)

Clarke (NY)

Clay

Cleaver

Clyburn

Cohen

Cole

Collins (GA)

Comer

Conaway

Connolly

Cook

Cooper

Correa

Costa

Courtney

Cox (CA)

Craig

Crawford

Crenshaw

Crist

Crow

Cuellar

Cunningham

Curtis

Davids (KS)

Davis (CA)

Davis, Danny K.

Davis, Rodney

Dean

DeFazio

DeGette

DeLauro

DelBene

Delgado

Demings

Deutch

Diaz-Balart

Dingell

Doggett

Doyle, Michael F.

Dunn

Engel

Escobar

Eshoo

Espaillat

Estes

Evans

Ferguson

Finkenauer

Fitzpatrick

Fleischmann

Fletcher

Flores

Fortenberry

Foster

Foxx (NC)

Frankel

Fudge

Gabbard

Gallego

Garamendi

García (IL)

Garcia (TX)

Gianforte

Gibbs

Golden

Gomez

Gonzalez (OH)

Gonzalez (TX)

Gottheimer

Granger

Graves (LA)

Graves (MO)

Green, Al (TX)

Griffith

Guest

Guthrie

Haaland

Hagedorn

Harder (CA)

Harris

Hartzler

Hastings

Hayes

Heck

Herrera Beutler

Higgins (LA)

Higgins (NY)

Hill (AR)

Himes

Holding

Hollingsworth

Horn, Kendra S.

Horsford

Houlahan

Hoyer

Hudson

Huffman

Huizenga

Hurd (TX)

Jackson Lee

Jayapal

Jeffries

Johnson (GA)

Johnson (LA)

Johnson (OH)

Johnson (SD)

Johnson (TX)

Joyce (OH)

Joyce (PA)

Kaptur

Katko

Keating

Keller

Kelly (IL)

Kelly (PA)

Kennedy

Khanna

Kildee

Kilmer

Kim

Kind

King (NY)

Kinzinger

Krishnamoorthi

Kuster (NH)

Kustoff (TN)

LaHood

LaMalfa

Lamb

Lamborn

Langevin

Larsen (WA)

Larson (CT)

Latta

Lawrence

Lawson (FL)

Lee (CA)

Lee (NV)

Levin (CA)

Levin (MI)

Lieu, Ted

Loebsack

Lofgren

Lowenthal

Lowey

Lucas

Luetkemeyer

Luján

Luria

Lynch

Malinowski

Maloney, Carolyn B.

Maloney, Sean

Marshall

Mast

Matsui

McAdams

McBath

McCarthy

McCaul

McCollum

McEachin

McGovern

McHenry

McKinley

McNerney

Meeks

Meng

Meuser

Miller

Mitchell

Moolenaar

Moore

Morelle

Moulton

Mucarsel-Powell

Murphy (FL)

Murphy (NC)

Nadler

Napolitano

Neal

Neguse

Newhouse

Norcross

Nunes

O'Halleran

Ocasio-Cortez

Omar

Pallone

Palmer

Panetta

Pappas

Pascrell

Payne

Pelosi

Pence

Perlmutter

Perry

Peters

Peterson

Phillips

Pocan

Porter

Posey

Pressley

Price (NC)

Quigley

Raskin

Reed

Reschenthaler

Rice (NY)

Rice (SC)

Richmond

Riggleman

Roby

Rodgers (WA)

Roe, David P.

Rogers (KY)

Rose (NY)

Rouda

Rouzer

Roybal-Allard

Ruiz

Ruppersberger

Rush

Rutherford

Ryan

Sánchez

Sarbanes

Scalise

Scanlon

Schakowsky

Schiff

Schneider

Schrader

Schrier

Schweikert

Scott (VA)

Scott, Austin

Scott, David

Serrano

Sewell (AL)

Shalala

Sherman

Sherrill

Shimkus

Simpson

Sires

Slotkin

Smith (NE)

Smith (NJ)

Smith (WA)

Smucker

Soto

Spanberger

Spano

Stanton

Stauber

Stefanik

Stevens

Stewart

Stivers

Suozzi

Swalwell (CA)

Takano

Taylor

Thompson (CA)

Thompson (MS)

Thompson (PA)

Thornberry

Tipton

Titus

Tlaib

Tonko

Torres (CA)

Torres Small (NM)

Trahan

Trone

Turner

Underwood

Upton

Van Drew

Vargas

Veasey

Vela

Velázquez

Visclosky

Wagner

Walberg

Walden

Walker

Walorski

Wasserman Schultz

Waters

Watkins

Watson Coleman

Webster (FL)

Welch

Wenstrup

Westerman

Wexton

Wild

Williams

Wilson (FL)

Wittman

Womack

Woodall

Wright

Yarmuth

Zeldin

NAYs — 4

Babin

Banks

Biggs

Bishop (NC)

Buck

Budd

Burchett

Byrne

Cline

Cloud

Davidson (OH)

DesJarlais

Duncan

Emmer

Fulcher

Gallagher

Gohmert

Gooden

Green (TN)

Grothman

Hern, Kevin

Hice (GA)

Jordan

King (IA)

Lesko

Long

Loudermilk

McClintock

Mooney (WV)

Norman

Rose, John W.

Roy

Sensenbrenner

Smith (MO)

Steil

Steube

Timmons

Waltz

Weber (TX)

Wilson (SC)

Answered “Present” — 1

Amash

Not Voting — 26

Abraham

Beyer

Bishop (UT)

Brownley (CA)

DeSaulnier

Gaetz

Gosar

Graves (GA)

Grijalva

Kelly (MS)

Kirkpatrick

Lewis

Lipinski

Marchant

Massie

Meadows

Mullin

Olson

Palazzo

Pingree

Ratcliffe

Rogers (AL)

Rooney (FL)

Speier

Yoho

Young

*Minority party (Republicans) in italics


U.S. Senate

YEAs — 90

Alexander (R-TN)

Baldwin (D-WI)

Barrasso (R-WY)

Bennet (D-CO)

Blumenthal (D-CT)

Blunt (R-MO)

Booker (D-NJ)

Boozman (R-AR)

Braun (R-IN)

Brown (D-OH)

Burr (R-NC)

Cantwell (D-WA)

Capito (R-WV)

Cardin (D-MD)

Carper (D-DE)

Casey (D-PA)

Cassidy (R-LA)

Collins (R-ME)

Coons (D-DE)

Cornyn (R-TX)

Cortez Masto (D-NV)

Cotton (R-AR)

Cramer (R-ND)

Crapo (R-ID)

Cruz (R-TX)

Daines (R-MT)

Duckworth (D-IL)

Durbin (D-IL)

Enzi (R-WY)

Ernst (R-IA)

Feinstein (D-CA)

Fischer (R-NE)

Gillibrand (D-NY)

Graham (R-SC)

Grassley (R-IA)

Harris (D-CA)

Hassan (D-NH)

Hawley (R-MO)

Heinrich (D-NM)

Hirono (D-HI)

Hoeven (R-ND)

Hyde-Smith (R-MS)

Jones (D-AL)

Kaine (D-VA)

Kennedy (R-LA)

King (I-ME)

Klobuchar (D-MN)

Leahy (D-VT)

Loeffler (R-GA)

Manchin (D-WV)

Markey (D-MA)

McConnell (R-KY)

McSally (R-AZ)

Menendez (D-NJ)

Merkley (D-OR)

Moran (R-KS)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Murphy (D-CT)

Murray (D-WA)

Perdue (R-GA)

Peters (D-MI)

Portman (R-OH)

Reed (D-RI)

Risch (R-ID)

Roberts (R-KS)

Romney (R-UT)

Rosen (D-NV)

Rounds (R-SD)

Rubio (R-FL)

Sanders (I-VT)

Schatz (D-HI)

Schumer (D-NY)

Shaheen (D-NH)

Shelby (R-AL)

Sinema (D-AZ)

Smith (D-MN)

Stabenow (D-MI)

Sullivan (R-AK)

Tester (D-MT)

Thune (R-SD)

Tillis (R-NC)

Toomey (R-PA)

Udall (D-NM)

Van Hollen (D-MD)

Warner (D-VA)

Warren (D-MA)

Whitehouse (D-RI)

Wicker (R-MS)

Wyden (D-OR)

Young (R-IN)

NAYs — 8

Blackburn (R-TN)

Inhofe (R-OK)

Johnson (R-WI)

Lankford (R-OK)

Lee (R-UT)

Paul (R-KY)

Sasse (R-NE)

Scott (R-SC)

Not Voting — 2

Gardner (R-CO)

Scott (R-FL)

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