Republican Rep. Pete King said he has no choice but to vote for the Democrats’ proposed $3 trillion HEROES Act relief package in order to get his state, New York, the money it needs.
The Republican lawmaker told Fox News he doesn’t agree with all the provisions in the package but supports the $875 billion allocation for cash for state and local governments.
“I can be as much a red state person as anyone. But now we're talking about survival. And this is no place for politics. There's a lot in the bill that I disagree with, but Mitch McConnell refuses to bring up aid to state and local governments. New York will absolutely collapse if that aid money is not there,” King told Fox News on Friday.
The House is scheduled to hold a remote hearing to vote on the proposed package today.
“My understanding is the bill is going to pass. I'm voting for it reluctantly, but I really have no choice,” King said. “There’s also a lot of Republicans in the Senate who do believe that aid should be given to the state and local governments. It will give them an opportunity to work with something and then they can start stripping out what they believe doesn't belong there. Send it back to a conference so we can pass it.”
King said he isn’t a fan of some of the items Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has included funding for in the bill like payments to illegal immigrants and absentee ballots. He said many of the items have nothing to do with coronavirus relief.
“She's put in basically a progressive wish list, she's attached that to the bill and it's to keep the progressive wing of her party happy. And she's been given that opportunity because McConnell won't talk about aid to state and local governments,” King said.
King places blame on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he wants to wait to pass any large relief packages.
King said getting the money to state and local governments is much needed. He represents Long Island, which was slammed by the virus outbreak.
“We know it’s necessary because I can tell you right now there's going to be large, large gaps in the budgets at the local level, at the state level entirely because of the coronavirus,” King said.