House Agriculture Committee Passes Another COVID Lockdown Bailout

The Big Picture

It is truly mind-boggling how much government has grown in only a year. Never before has our federal government spent so much money in so short a time. This comes on top of governors across the country using their emergency powers to unleash devastating lockdown policies on hardworking Americans.

In a rush to cover up the damage that misguided COVID lockdowns cause, politicians are doing what they do best: throwing money we don’t have at a problem they caused.

Since the onset of the pandemic, taxpayers have spent nearly $6 trillion overall in COVID relief–a trend that Congress does not seem interested in stopping. As Americans continue returning to everyday life, politicians in Washington find it challenging to quit the spending they have become so accustomed to.

The House Agriculture Committee just passed H.R. 2424, the Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act. The bill would spend half a billion dollars subsidizing local agricultural fairs devastated by misguided lockdown policies.

The Details

H.R. 2424, The Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act

• Sends $500 million to state departments of agriculture to bail out local agricultural fairs affected by disastrous state lockdown policies.
• The amount of grant funding is determined by the difference between fair attendance in 2020 and the previous three years’ average.

The Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act is only one in a long line of high-cost COVID spending bills…

History of COVID Spending

• Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act – $8.3 Billion
• Families First Coronavirus Response Act – $192 Billion
• The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – $2 Trillion
• Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act – $483 Billion
• Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 – $868 Billion
• American Rescue Plan – $1.9 Trillion

Why it Matters

Americans fed up with power-mad governors are making their voices heard and reining in runaway executives. Earlier this year, Pennsylvanians passed a ballot initiative stripping Gov. Tom Wolf of the emergency powers he so heinously abused.

The conservative grassroots are a proven political force to be reckoned with; we must continue to push back against the past year’s dramatic expansion of government. That starts with holding governors accountable for failed lockdown policies and standing in the way of fiscally absurd bailouts.

This year, our national debt will eclipse the $30 trillion mark for the first time in our nation’s history. At the same time, Congress is currently considering nearly $5 trillion in spending in the form of an infrastructure package and partisan budget reconciliation.

The Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act is symbolic of a government addicted to frivolous spending that we simply cannot afford. The conservative grassroots must stand firm against this misguided bill.