Rep. Jason Smith: White House's American Rescue Plan costs too much

Jason Smith, Southeast Missouri’s representative in Congress, said President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus relief package, dubbed the “American Rescue Plan,” is “a lot of spending.”

The bill, according to reports, could pass the U.S. House by the end of February.

“If you count the $1.9 trillion (proposed) and the $4 trillion that’s already been (appropriated), that’s $6 trillion — and we still have over $1 trillion that has yet to be spent,” said Smith, the ranking GOP member on the House Budget Committee, a panel on which the 40-year-old representative has served since 2017.

Smith, an 8th District Republican, broke down the figures in an interview Thursday on C-Span’s “Washington Journal” program.

“If you divide $6 trillion by every American, that’s roughly $17,000 per American and $70,000 for a family of four,” he said, noting the $6 trillion in pandemic relief is more money than the gross domestic product of every country except for China and the U.S.

“That’s a lot of spending,” opined Smith, who offered his own preferred way forward in a half-hour interview on the cable channel.

“I truly believe we can adjust the (unspent) $1 trillion to make sure it is spent in the most appropriate way — for vaccines, health care needs, PPP (paycheck protection program), PPE (personal protective equipment) and making sure we’re helping those small businesses that have been suffering so much,” Smith continued.

Cheney question

According to National Public Radio, the House Republican Conference agreed to keep Wyoming’s Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican, as part of the GOP’s conference leadership by a 145-61 tally in a Wednesday vote that was officially secret.

Cheney had been under fire for her Jan. 13 decision to break with her party — along with nine other GOP House members — to vote for a second impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.

Smith demurred when asked by C-Span how he voted on Cheney’s proposed ouster.

“You never want to talk about a good family discussion,” he said, “and that’s what we had in our conference. We came to a decision and we’re going to move on.”