GOP members of Congress keep trying to take credit for pandemic relief they voted against

Republicans will never stop singing the praises of the legislative accomplishments of President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats with one caveat: They’ll also never mention Democrats while taking credit for those accomplishments.

Even the extremist Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona is above taking credit for the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package Democrats passed earlier this year without the help of so much as a single Republican.

“Gosar announces federal grant award to City of Kingman to Combat the Spread of COVID,” read a Monday press release from the GOP Congressman, who was recently censured and stripped of his committee assignments for publicly fantasizing about executing one of his Democratic colleagues.

The statement emphasized how “critical and “essential” the $32,000 in funding was to the City of Kingman given “the operational costs” for cleaning, sanitizing, and maintaining the Kingman Airport during the coronavirus pandemic. Crucial, clearly, just not critical and essential enough for Gosar to vote for it, apparently.

Gosar’s release even included a statement from Kingman Mayor Jen Miles saying how “grateful” the city was for his support.

Yeah, let’s revisit that spring vote for a second: 219 – 210 in the House, with zero Republicans; and 50-49 in the Senate, with zero Republicans.  

This isn’t a new story; it’s an ongoing GOP usurpation of credit for something they didn’t do—providing critical pandemic funding for American families, businesses, and locales that Republicans will use next election to tar Democrats as profligate spenders.  

Gosar was just the latest in a recent rash of Republicans stealing credit for lavishing relief on their constituents.

When Iowa GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds took credit for a $100 million allocation made to the state’s Water Infrastructure Fund using federal ARP money, the progressive group Rural Organizing sent out a press release declaring a “FRAUD ALERT.”

“She, like other Republicans around the country know these funds are critically important for their states, especially in rural areas,” Rural Organizing Executive Director Matt Hildreth said of Gov. Reynolds. “Yet, if Republicans had their way, none of this would be happening.”

Indeed, Reynolds’ release stressed the notion that her administration recognized “the value and importance of water quality” to local families and businesses, which is why she said she remained “committed to improving Iowa’s water quality and providing these historic investments” to preserve Iowa’s water resources.

Over the last month, GOP Govs. Doug Ducey of Arizona and Mike DeWine of Ohio have also patted themselves on the back for delivering critical resources to their constituents. In Arizona, Ducey announced a $100 million investment in high-speed broadband “to unserved or underserved areas of the state, making it one of the single largest broadband investments in state history.”

And here’s a glimpse of DeWine’s work from Cleveland.com:

Gov. Mike DeWine, who’s facing re-election next year, has spent a lot of time this week publicizing proposals to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on grants for first-responders and water projects.

But what the Greene County Republican neglects to mention when making these proposals is that the money is coming from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, a coronavirus relief bill passed by Democrats last spring over criticism from Republicans — including DeWine himself.

In his statement, Rural Organizing’s Hildreth stressed that Democrats need to be clear about who’s actually delivering for Americans.

“Whenever we see this, RuralOrganizing.org will call Republicans on it,” he said, adding that voters should know “Democrats are the ones investing in their communities.”

Indeed, taking credit is critical for Democrats, who are already facing rough political headwinds heading into next year. These are eye-popping numbers for many locales—$100 million here, another $100 million there—particularly for rural areas. Republicans themselves are selling them as “historic” and “the single largest” investments in their states.  

Democrats must dedicate time and energy to letting voters know who made that money possible. The fact that President Biden and congressional Democrats likely aren’t getting enough credit is reflected in Biden’s low job approval numbers, with 43% approving of Biden and 51% disapproving, according to the FiveThirtyEight.com aggregate.