Author: Brian Holmes, KTVB
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher voiced his vote in favor of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. He outlined his decision in a one-minute speech on the House floor Friday.
“For the first time in history, we mandated the economy shut down by law. Now, we don't yet know the benefits of that, but we do know the cost. It's about two trillion dollars. And one must ask, what is the cost of not acting?”
Idaho's other Congressman Mike Simpson also shouted out his "aye" Friday morning for the bill.
It was signed into law by President Trump shortly after.
It may be the only thing moving faster than the virus itself and is now the largest economic stimulus package ever put into play by the U.S. Congress.
Just before he went back into the House chamber, we spoke with Rep. Fulcher from his D.C. office about why he thought this was the best way to keep COVID-19 from continuing its economic toll on our country.
"This is unprecedented in the sense the government caused a lot of this by forcing people to shut down, for the right reasons, but nevertheless that's what happened. And in my mind, they assumed responsibility for helping get that started again, and so here we go. I think this is the right thing to do, but it definitely goes against my grain to sign on for that much debt," Fulcher said.
"How do you feel about for the largest stimulus package? Two-point-two trillion dollars, that's not chump change, that's going to go on for a while?
"It's gut wrenching. The good news is we're gonna help some people in the short term Brian. The bad news is we're sending the bill to your grandkids. And therein lies the gut wrenching part of this."
"On the other side of that, there are some people that say, $1,200, a one-time stimulus check, is that gonna be enough because we don't know how long it's going to last?"
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