Murphy Offers Four Amendments to House Democrats’ COVID-19 Package, Votes Against the Bill

Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1319. Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. (NC-03), who voted against the bill, offered four amendments, which were all blocked by Democrats.

Background on Murphy amendments

• A $112 million project for a rail tunnel in Silicon Valley was included in the bill. Murphy's amendment would scrap that project and use the money to fund a study determining how school closures have affected minority and displaced students, including assessments of effects on physical health, mental health, and loss of learning.
• The National Endowment of Arts would receive $135 million if this bill were to become law. Murphy's amendment would reapportion half of that money and put it toward sanitation materials, PPE and vaccine development.
• The legislation contains a $15/hour minimum wage hike, which would kill 1.4 million jobs if enacted. Another one of Murphy's amendments would strike this section out of the bill.
• The bill provides more than $128 billion in funding for schools. The amendment Murphy offered would make this funding contingent on schools offering in-person learning to disadvantaged children.

Murphy released the following statement:

"Democrats' latest spending bill is yet another attempt to pass hundreds of billions of dollars in liberal wish items under the guise of COVID-19. In fact, only 8% of the bill is actually dedicated to public health related to COVID-19. There is still $1 trillion from the CARES Act that has yet to be spent. It is unbelievable that the Democratic leader is taking advantage of the pandemic in acting this way" said Murphy.

"The other 92% simply fulfills the democratic wish list of priorities. It includes: $510 billion to bailout previously poorly managed blue states and local governments; $471 billion for policies that reduce private-sector employment; $122 billion for K-12 schools which won't be spent until 2022-2028 when they still have yet to spend $60 billion from the CARES Act; $12 billion in foreign aid; $500 million for arts, humanities, museums and library services; and, unconscionably so, $113.5 million for pet projects from Nancy Pelosi in Silicon Valley and Chuck Schumer in New York. These billions of dollars in taxpayer money are in no way, shape or form related to the pandemic. They are a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.

"I tried to improve this extremely flawed piece of legislation with four common-sense amendments, but they were all unanimously blocked by Democrats. Although I was not able to change this legislation for the better, it is my hope that the Senate can improve it."