Republicans Praise Money in Biden Relief Bill They Voted Against

“As a volunteer firefighter, I know there is an overwhelming need for additional resources to help first responders better protect our communities,” Thompson said in the Jan. 18 statement his office issued. “I stand ready to assist and provide support for any company in the Congressional District looking to pursue these opportunities.”

In an email, a spokesperson for Kelly said the northwestern Pennsylvania lawmaker “wrote a letter of support” for the medical school “which was seeking grant funding made possible through the American Rescue Plan.”

In an email, a spokesperson for Thompson said the GOP lawmaker has supported the emergency services grant program for years, and that the pandemic relief money had provided a $10 million infusion to a $46 million program already in the federal budget.

“The American Rescue Plan totals $1.9 trillion, and this supplement translates to .00052 percent of the total package,” senior Thompson aide Renee Gamela said. “While Congressman Thompson supports the FP&S grant program, he could not support the bill in its entirety.”

Kelly isn’t the “first to try to take credit for the product of bills that he voted against,” Chris Borick, a pollster and political analyst at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, said. “But apparently he thinks his constituents either don’t care or don’t know about the disconnect between his positions.”

During an appearance in Cleveland last May, Biden played to the crowd, pulling out a list of Republican lawmakers who opposed the pandemic relief bill.

“My Republican friends in Congress, not a single one of them voted for the rescue plan,” Biden said, according to the Independent.

Democrats already are vowing to use these pivots against the GOP in this November’s all-the-marbles midterm elections.

They’re not going to find themselves wanting for material.

An award-winning political journalist, John L. Micek is Editor-in-Chief of The Pennsylvania Capital-Star in Harrisburg, Pa. Email him at jmicek@penncapital-star.com and follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek.