‘It’s unacceptable’: Six Republican senators vote ‘no’ on monstrosity COVID bill negotiated in secret

Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Crux (R-Texas) ripped the process by which the just-passed $2.3 trillion spending and COVID relief measure was devised and written in justifying their opposition to it.

“Tonight, badly-needed #COVID19 relief was tied to a $1.4T end-of-year spending monstrosity because three times Democrats rejected good faith efforts to pass targeted legislation that would have helped Americans hurting as a result of the pandemic,” Cruz wrote Monday.

“Simply put, Democrats exploited the need for relief to advance their political agenda instead of working on standalone legislation months ago that would put our nation on the path to recovery,” Cruz, one of six GOP senators who voted against the pork-filled measure, wrote on Twitter Monday.

“That’s wrong and the exact opposite of what the American people need right now,” he added.

In addition to Lee and Cruz, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Rand Paul (Ky.), and Rick Scott (Fla.), all voted ‘no’ on the measure. Two other Republicans, Sens. Mike Enzi (Wyoming), and Mike Rounds (S.D.), did not vote.

The legislation combined a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the government for the fiscal year and $900 billion in new COVID-19 relief.

“This is the spending bill under consideration in Congress today,” Lee wrote in a Twitter thread Monday evening, just a few hours before Congress was scheduled to vote on it. “I received it just moments ago, and will likely be asked to vote on it late tonight. It’s 5,593 pages long.I know there are some good things in it. I’m equally confident that there are...

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