House passes coronavirus relief bill, Oklahoma's delegation votes against relief

Feb. 27—The U.S House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan early Saturday morning, with all of Oklahoma's congressional delegation voting against the package.

The state's delegation followed their party's voting, as zero Republicans voted in support of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package. Congressman Tom Cole, R-Okla., argued that the relief package was too expensive and included unnecessary items.

"The majority has thrown in completely unrelated items that just so happen to be at the top of their progressive wish list," Congressman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said on the House floor before voting on the bill. "This includes irresponsible policies like a federal bailout of certain pension funds, providing bloated contributions to state and local governments and arbitrarily raising the minimum wage."

The raise to the minimum wage is not expected to pass through the senate and therefore will not be a part of the final bill.

One of the local governments that the package would provide funds to is Norman, the biggest city in Cole's district. Norman Mayor Breea Clark joined 400 other mayors earlier this month in signing a letter in support of the package and the relief it would provide to cities like Norman.

Clark and Cole did not immediately respond to The Transcript's request for comment.

Freshman Congresswoman Stephanie Bice also went against the wishes of the biggest city in her district, Oklahoma City, voting against the relief package. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt also signed the letter of support for the package.

On MSNBC's "All in with Chris Hayes", Holt urged congress to pass the relief package and also urged Oklahoma's delegation to vote in favor of it.

"I don't know a single mayor or governor for that matter who isn't dowen in their revenues," Holt said on the show. "... Everybody has a need. To not support states at all or to not support cities at all is a totally unreasonable position."

Bice responded on Twitter to Holt's comments by repeating an argument against the bill that's been heavily disputed.

"If the package had more than a measly 9% of $1.9T going to actual Covid relief then maybe we could be for it," Bice tweeted.

White House officials disputed this claim made by Bice saying that they believe the bill to be "highly targeted" and that the American Rescue Plan focuses almost 90% of the money in the package towards "seven critical priorities that'll get support to the people and places that need it the most so we can beat the virus and help those hurting financially."

"Our country is in crisis right now, so we're laser-focused on stretching every dollar in this package as far as we can, and using them where they're most effective," a White House official said. "That's how we're going to save lives, protect our economy and get the job done."

Officials said the seven critical priorities are "crushing COVID-19 and expanding access to healthcare, reopening schools safely, getting Americans $1,400 checks and economic assistance, providing unemployment insurance to those who've lost their jobs, keeping Americans housed and fed, helping small businesses and supporting communities in need."

In a text message, Holt said that the funding OKC is set to receive from this package would be the "largest direct support from the federal government in city history."

"That estimated $116 million will give us the opportunity to fully restore police and fire services, and all the city services our residents expect," Holt said. "We're very excited to see it move forward."

Reese Gorman covers COVID-19, local politics and elections for The Transcript; reach him at rgorman@normantranscript.com or @reeseg_3.