Senate Republicans have included billions in funding to the Pentagon in their coronavirus relief bill, which would go towards programs that had their budgets slashed to fund construction on the U.S.-Mexico border, along with just under $2 billion to rebuild FBI headquarters.
The bill grants nearly $30 billion to the Pentagon, including about $8 billion for weapons systems that were cut by President Donald Trump to pay for his proposed wall on the southwest border with Mexico, according to The Hill.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., criticized the bill in a statement to CNN, saying it "contains billions of dollars for programs unrelated to the coronavirus, including over $8 billion for what appears to be a wish-list from the Department of Defense for manufacturing of planes, ships, and other weapons systems.”
He added, "The bill provides nothing to address the long lines at food banks and shortchanges education and childcare, but we can shore up the defense industry? I am at a loss for words.”
The bill also grants about $1.8 billion to rebuild the FBI headquarters, a move that Democrats claim creates a conflict of interest for Trump, since the building is located across the street from a hotel owned by the president.
“They don’t have money for food stamps, but they have money for an FBI building just so that they can diminish competition for the president’s hotel,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement late Monday.
“More than 150,000 Americans have died from coronavirus, millions are unemployed,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who added that Senate Majority Leader “Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] and Donald Trump are more concerned about protecting Trump Hotel. That is shameful.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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