Scalise: Pelosi Obstructs Bipartisan Effort to Save Our Country's Small Businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C.—House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox Business Network's Mornings with Maria to discuss House Republicans' discharge petition led by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) to force a vote extending unused funds in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to small businesses. As Republicans work to provide targeted relief for Americans suffering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Speaker Pelosi continues to block aid instead of helping workers and families.

Whip Scalise also discussed President Trump's commitment to lowering healthcare costs for the American people, protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions, and putting patients first. Whip Scalise blasted Speaker Pelosi for failing to work alongside House Republicans to make healthcare more affordable.

On Republican efforts to provide targeted relief for Americans suffering from the impacts of the Coronavirus crisis:

"Clearly, as you said, what Speaker Pelosi has been asking for is too high and frankly, in those areas of bailing out states that were failing before COVID, those kinds of things are not going to happen. Look, we've been looking at some of the things that are still out there. For example, the Paycheck Protection Program which was highly successful at saving jobs and small businesses, it has over $138 billion still remaining. Congressman Chabot from Ohio has a bill to free that money up for a second round for those businesses that are still struggling. We've been asking to bring that bill to the Floor. In fact, Jamie Herrera Beutler, a colleague of mine from Washington is pushing. We have a lot of Democrats interested in that where you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You've got a program that worked, those businesses that need help still, let them go for a second round without adding trillions more to our nation's debt. Those are the kinds of things we'd like to see focused on as well."

[…]

"What we're seeing happening is a lot of Democrats in these swing districts, Maria, they're putting pressure on Speaker Pelosi because they saw that she had gotten too greedy. She was demanding things that nobody else was going to agree to. And our real focus needs to be on safely reopening the economy, safely reopening schools, and helping those families and small businesses still struggling. Not trillions of dollars of things that had nothing to do with COVID. And frankly, that was where Pelosi was. So, you know, if she's going to get back to a reasonable place that's one thing, but even her own members have basically been telling them that they went too far, they got too greedy. Let's get back to basics, Maria, let's get back to the fundamentals of helping get our economy safely reopened, getting families back to work, and holding these small businesses together through this tough time."

On President Trump's commitment to lowering healthcare costs:

"This has been policy President Trump's talked about his whole tenure. Protecting people with pre-existing conditions has been a foundation of anything that we worked with President Trump on and he's been very vocal about that. As well as focusing on lowering costs and putting patients back in charge of that relationship with their doctor. Those are all things that we've seen go away over the last 10 years. Costs are higher, people have fewer options. Why don't we actually work on reversing that. So, the President's doing what he can through executive action. But clearly, Congress is going to have to get back to this to focus, again, on making sure that we can lower costs, put families back in charge, protect people with pre-existing conditions.

"And, by the way, the surprise medical billing issue – it's something a lot of our members, including our Doctors Caucus, have put a lot of work into. It's something families shouldn't have to face. If you go to the hospital, you have insurance, you get your procedure done, you shouldn't worry that a month later you're going to get some $20,000 bill. That's something that Congress should have gotten together on in the House. [Democrats] never put a real focus on solving that. I'm glad the President's taking the lead, but ultimately, Congress has to join in on this fight too. [Republicans] surely will when we take the majority this November."

On Speaker Pelosi's failure to make healthcare more affordable:

"There needs to be more responsible work done from Congress. Of course, this goes back to the infamous speech where Nancy Pelosi said you have to pass the bill to find out what's in it. They rammed that thing through with nobody having read the bill because it was an unconstitutional law they wrote, and it's increased cost, it's limited options for families, it's made health care less affordable for so many people. $10,000 deductibles for people with pre-existing conditions is lack of access to care. So, why don't, again, we go back and focus on what is working. What we've seen for example, health savings accounts are tremendously successful at putting patients in charge of their health decisions. Price transparency would be critically important for us to do. Expanding the ability for small businesses to pull together, they get the buying power of big businesses. Those are all things that could be done. Congress hasn't addressed any of those under Speaker Pelosi. Frankly, I think families are hungry for that kind of bold leadership to put them back in charge of their health care decisions with their doctors. Get these unelected bureaucrats in Washington out of the way, and then let's focus on lowering costs with better options for families."

On President Trump's historic achievements:

"You see so much energy on the ground. I go to a lot of these swing districts, Maria, and when you're out in the real world, you know, out of the DC bubble, what you see is a lot of excitement for Donald Trump. You don't see any excitement for Joe Biden, it's just the people that never liked Trump in the first place because he's delivering on his promises, and people are excited about that. They don't like the idea that they're burning down cities. That you've got these Democrats on the sidelines, or even encouraging those kinds of things, that are undermining public safety. And then look at what the President's done with this moonshot, with this ability through Operation Warp Speed to get multiple vaccines, not just one. There were three last week. Today, just a few days ago, Johnson & Johnson got out. These are great American companies. Unfortunately, some Democrats are trying to undermine public confidence in a vaccine. Most people see what's happening out there and it's revolutionary. The fact that you've got, in less than a year from knowing what this disease is, to actually being on the brink of multiple vaccines approved by the FDA – the gold standard for the world – this is revolutionary and it's also one more sign of how we can get our economy safely reopened."