Rep. Louie Gohmert: First-hand experience in drafting a coronavirus-response bill

Rep. Louie Gohmert, Representative of the First District of Texas, Vice Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, joins Secure Freedom Radio to discuss his direct involvement in the process of getting the coronavirus bill signed into law.

“A couple of weeks ago we put together the first actual legislation to deal with this crisis which included 8 billion dollars to deal with the need for vaccines, research, helping people, financing test kits, etc. The president originally felt like 2.5 billion would take care of us through this time for at least a year or even more. But the Democrats wanted 8 billion- it was a bigger number- and that’s what we passed. So, we already dealt with immediate need for money for the medical side of the coronavirus. About a week and a half ago we were told we now had to deal with the economic side of this. So, a couple of weeks ago this was being pushed and it would mean throwing money at the economic crisis since the medicine side of it had mainly been taken care of. So, it was trying to guess where we would need to put money to deal with an economic crisis. The trouble with that is we don’t know exactly where it is all needed. Plus, the Democrats’ response, despite all their negativity and their campaigning against ‘big and evil’ corporations, wanted to start with businesses with less than 500 employees. This was a shock for me, because if you are going to demand a lot of free money handed out for unemployment, then you wouldn’t start with the smallest businesses in the country- but that’s where they went. It is important to keep in mind that the majority of people in America are employed by small businesses which are the least controlled by the federal government.”

Listen to the full show here