On the recordJune 24, 2021
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the most important issue facing our country today: the reopening of the U.S. economy. For 16 long months, the U.S. economy has been held hostage by government, both elected and unelected. What started as a 15-day shutdown to allow hospitals to brace for the coming wave of COVID cases has ballooned into over a year of shifting goalposts, evolving science, and political power grabs. Since the pandemic began, over 200,000 small businesses, which the President once claimed were the backbone of the U.S. economy, have been shuttered for good. This has left their owners jobless and futures uncertain. Those whose businesses did survive the long lockdowns still face harsh restrictions. For too long and in too many cases, we have seen restrictions on controlling how many customers they can serve, how their employees can conduct business, and, by default, how much revenue they can bring in. Worse, the reopening of our economy has been prolonged even further by the misguided attempts from the political left to provide relief. The example I hear the most from constituents and businesses back in George's First Congressional District is the increased unemployment benefits. Under these expanded benefits, many Americans have been able to receive more money not working than they did actually working.…
