Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY) targeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her lack of action to secure an additional $250 billion in funding for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), which has helped keep businesses and their employees afloat during the COVID-19 crisis.
The last of $349 billion Congress allocated to PPP funding was exhausted on Thursday, despite Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urging a “clean” bill by unanimous consent that would have simply boosted PPP funding by $250 billion. Senate Democrats, however, objected and blocked the bill, and both sides have been locked in a stalemate ever since.
Speaker Pelosi has indicated very little motivation to call the House back early from recess to vote on additional PPP funding. And instead, she has gotten criticized for showing off a freezer full of expensive pints of Jeni’s ice cream on “The Late, Late Show With James Corden”, while small business owners are struggling to make ends meet.
In response to Pelosi’s handling of the crisis, Rep. Zeldin tweeted a video along with statement, where he called on the Speaker to “knock off the petty partisan politics.”
Zeldin tweeted, “While President Trump believes the enemy is coronavirus, Speaker Pelosi believes the enemy is Pres Trump. In order to defeat COVID-19, we must have a clear head & united, common purpose to confront and end this pandemic.”
He continued, “This is the worst time to bury your head in the $23,000 freezer. This isn’t ‘$13 gourmet ice cream time’. It’s ‘Congress needs to get back to DC & do its job time’!” Video Below
Related Article: Don Jr. Slams Pelosi As PPP Funding Runs Dry: “One Of The Most Grotesque Things I’ve Seen In Politics”
“There are small businesses all across the nation that will never reopen again through no fault of their own,” Zeldin said. “1/2 of the US workforce is made up of employees of small businesses. We can ensure they have a job to go back to! We can ensure the US economy rebounds stronger than ever!”
“The Speaker needs to stop viewing this as GOP v Dem, Red v Blue, & Trump v anti-Trump. We’re Americans first & we’re in this TOGETHER. Knock off the petty partisan politics. This is a time to be NON-partisan & do whatever needs to be done to get our country through this pandemic,” he concluded. Video Below
In ending, here is the video Zeldin tweeted, where he discusses the current standoff over PPP funding with Fox News panelists:
While @realDonaldTrump believes the enemy is coronavirus, @SpeakerPelosi believes the enemy is Pres Trump. In order to defeat COVID-19, we must have a clear head & united, common purpose to confront and end this pandemic. #FundPPP pic.twitter.com/pp50vZ12aB
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) April 18, 2020
