Every Wisconsin Republican in Congress Voted Against the COVID Relief Bill

For the second time in 2020, every GOP member from the state opposed bipartisan help for farmers, renters, homeowners, small business owners, and families.

Every Republican Wisconsin congressman voted against the second major federal coronavirus relief package that passed through the House and Senate on Monday.

Sen. Ron Johnson and Reps. Bryan Steil, Tom Tiffany, Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, and Jim Sensenbrenner were among just 59 members of Congress who voted against the bill. It passed the Senate on a 92-6 vote and the House on a 359-53 vote Monday night, with Wisconsin’s four Democrats voting in favor of the legislation.

The package includes $900 billion in spending. It contained provisions to help struggling Americans such as $600 direct payments to Americans who made under $75,000 last year, an extra $300 per week for the unemployed, an extension of the federal eviction moratorium, $25 billion for rental assistance, $13 billion for farmers, and $7 billion for broadband access. 

Johnson, a multimillionaire who voted for the 2017 tax cuts that added as much as $2 trillion to the national debt, specifically railed against stimulus checks—citing deficit concerns that were noticeably absent three years ago. The first major COVID-19 bill, the CARES Act, sent $1,200 checks to most people. Johnson single-handedly blocked a second round of $1,200 checks. 

“We must spend federal dollars—money we are borrowing from future generations—more carefully and place limits on how much we are mortgaging our children’s future,” Johnson said in a statement about his no vote.

Tiffany in a statement called the bill a “train wreck” and said he objected to it because the COVID relief was tied to a broader spending bill. Gallagher made a similar case in his own statement.

All Wisconsin Republicans also voted against the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a smaller relief package that passed before the CARES Act.

Wisconsin’s entire Congressional delegation except for Democratic Rep. Ron Kind voted for the CARES Act.