Lee Zeldin: “This is not a bill, a vote, and a debate that is about national principle. This is about politics; this is about…”

“This is not a bill, a vote, and a debate that is about national principle. This is about politics; this is about grandstanding; this is about political calculations; and this is about the election. Mr. Speaker, do you want to talk about leadership? Right now, there is a real deal, a real counteroffer that is on the table: $150 billion more for education, $75 billion more for testing and tracing, $250 billion more for State and local government funding, $400 weekly enhanced unemployment insurance, $15 billion more in food assistance, and $60 billion more in rental and mortgage assistance. It actually adds up to $1.6 trillion, which is more than the House Democrats who are members of the Problem Solvers Caucus asked for. They asked for $1.5 trillion. This is a real counteroffer. Instead, what you are seeing, Mr. Speaker, is a political calculation that is getting made, and real lives are at stake. This is a serious offer that is on the table, and instead of sending this Chamber home and ending up with nothing, how about we do our jobs and cut a deal? This debate right now is exactly what the American public hates about Congress. They hate us for this kind of a debate. They want to see us working together, Republicans and Democrats, to cut a deal. We have a chair of the Appropriations Committee from New York. I view this as a New Yorker. She is a New Yorker. We have an MTA that needs money. Our State needs money.…”