Republican Senators blast ‘lawless’ Biden admin over COVID spending: ‘Time to stop’

An effort to save American taxpayers over $13 billion dollars by reigning in wasteful spending has failed after Senate Democrats voted down Senator Eric Schmitt’s, R-Mo., disapproval resolution. 

“Today, Senate Democrats chose to continue their effort to shelter unelected bureaucrats from any sort of accountability and embolden the Biden Administration’s disastrous efforts to waste more taxpayer money on pet projects unrelated to their original intent,” Sen. Schmitt said in a press release following Wednesday’s Senate vote.

During Wednesday’s press conference, Sen. Schmitt was joined by several other Midwest Republican Senators, including Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., who presented the disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act aimed at the U.S. Department of Treasury’s misuse of COVID recovery dollars.

“Biden, Senate Democrats, and the army of unelected bureaucrats in the administrative state have wreaked financial havoc on middle and working-class Americans from high prices to runaway inflation and everything in between. My work on this isn’t done – stay tuned,” Schmitt vowed. 

BIDEN REPEATS FALSE CLAIM THAT INFLATION WAS AT 9% WHEN HE TOOK OFFICE AFTER BEING CALLED OUT LAST WEEK

Sen. Eric Schmitt’s, R-Mo., spoke on the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to vote for his resolution that would turn off the COVID spending spigot. (X/@SenEricSchmitt)

Sen. Schmitt stated that a couple of years ago, Congress passed legislation that authorized over $300 billion to go out during the COVID emergency and said the timing of that is supposed to expire at the end of this year, in 2024.

“Inflation is sky-high, COVID is over, it’s time to stop this reckless spending,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt then said that the Senate would be raised with a very simple question – Do they want to reign in a “lawless” administration and save taxpayers $13 billion dollars, at least? 

“We got here because of Joe Biden’s policies. That’s where it got us here with our inflation and high interest rates. He got us here because of America’s attack on American energy, as well as borrowing and printing money, some of which is the subject of Senator Schmitt’s resolution to start clawing that back,” Sen. Marshall stated during a press conference. 

“Joe Biden used COVID as an excuse to spend $1.9 TRILLION we don’t have. It caused inflation & it’s costing Americans over $12,000 more each year. Now Biden wants to break the law & extend the spending deadline for that money. I’m working with @SenEricSchmitt to stop him,” Sen Ricketts wrote in a post on X. 

Sen. Marshall reemphasized that interest rates are not going to come down until Congress stops borrowing and spending money.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS FORCED TO SPEND $2 BILLION OF COVID-RELIEF FUNDS TO ADDRESS LEARNING LOSS AFTER LAWSUIT

Sen. Eric Schmitt, along with other Republican Senators, presented their disapproval resolution under the CRA aimed at the U.S. Department of Treasury’s misuse of COVID recovery dollars, and their redefining of the original intention of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). (AP/Drew Angerer)

“Folks, the pandemic is over. Thank goodness. Thank God the pandemic is over. It’s been over for four years now. We’ve seen different folks back home, you know, trying to use these COVID dollars. They have built golf courses and swimming pools, they’re spending them on illegal immigrants. That type of thing. That was not the intent of these dollars,” Sen. Marshall stated.

“I think in any other time or place, this kind of wasteful spending and fraud would have been a scandal. But we hardly hear much of it from this administration,” Sen. Schmitt said. 

The Biden administration issued a policy statement saying that President Biden intended to veto the Congressional Review Act if it hit his desk, arguing that the bill could lead to projects being canceled midstream and reduce oversight of projects that are already ongoing.

WASHINGTON STATE DIVERTED $340M IN FEDERAL COVID FUNDS TO IMMIGRANTS, INCLUDING VIA $1,000 CHECKS

People shop in a supermarket as rising inflation affects consumer prices in Los Angeles. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

“That’s a lie. I mean, we shouldn’t be surprised by that now. It’s a total lie. Essentially, the obligations that are committed before the end of 2024, according to existing law, will be honored,” Schmitt countered.

“When this law was passed, every governor… knew exactly what the rules were and were structuring their programs around the rules. So if there’s somebody who says, ‘oh, I didn’t know what those rules are,’ it’s not the truth,” Sen. Ricketts added. “Everybody knew it going back to when this legislation was passed. And to say that somehow projects are not going to be completed or there’s not going to be oversight, it’s simply untrue. Because all this had to be planned years ago to be able to make sure you’d obligate the dollars in the appropriate way. So that’s a bunch of hooey, what he’s saying.”

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The resolution vote failed 46-49. 

Fox News’ Brianna O’Neil contributed to this report.