COVID-19 Vaccines

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Marshall County Health Department. They are administering the Moderna vaccine to hundreds of people every day. The day I was there they gave more than 600 people their second dose. It was great to see that Congressionally approved funds for vaccine research has now resulted in real vaccinations in our district. It is my hope that by the middle of 2021, everyone who wants to receive the COVID-19 vaccine will have been able to do so.

COVID-19 "Relief" Bill

President Biden and Democrat leadership created a massive $1.9 trillion spending bill, calling it "COVID-19 Relief". To be clear, this spending bill is a far cry from being actual financial relief related to COVID. When you break down the figures, it is roughly $1 trillion that goes toward liberal wish list items rather than areas that could actually use help.

Here are just a few of the crazier items put into this spending bill under the pretense that it is "COVID-19 Relief":

• $220 billion designated specifically for states with high unemployment numbers. Meaning that states like New York and California that have shut down their economies get a massive bailout, while Republican led states where businesses were allowed to open will get close to nothing. (California had some of the most strict Covid lockdown measures, yet still had extremly large positive rates.)
• $185 billion to bail out mismanaged pension plans with no reform required.
• $129 billion toward elementary and secondary schools, and $40 billion to higher education. At a time when help is needed to reopen our schools now, it is unacceptable that 95% of this "relief" will be spent between 2022 and 2028 - well after the pandemic is over.
• $50 billion for FEMA.
• $39 billion will go towards childcare.
• $30 billion for public transit.
• $1.5 billion for Amtrak.
• $1 billion in world food assistance.
• $1.5 million for the "Seaway International Bridge", which happens to be a priority for Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer.

While these are just a few examples of the billions that have nothing to do with COVID-19 relief, there are many other provisions that fall along this same line. 

Rural Broadband

As many of you probably know, rural broadband is one of my top legislative priorities in Congress. For years I have been fighting to ensure that rural America gets the same quality of broadband that the rest of America has, and it's a fight I will not stop until we finally get rural broadband done.

Two weeks ago, I sent out an online survey to the 4^th Congressional District to gather additional data about your access to broadband. Thanks to the 1,600+ responses, there is now data on this issue for our community. For those of you who were able to participate, thank you! The valuable responses you sent in will go a long way in my continuing fight, and I plan to use these figures in the halls of Congress to push rural broadband to the forefront of legislative action. Here are a few of the highlights: