Rep. Herrera Beutler Prioritizes Party Loyalty Over Her Constituents’ Needs with Vote Against Critical COVID-19 Relief
After claiming she’d put partisan politics aside to get things done, Herrera Beutler instead follows her party leaders in rejecting billions to help small businesses, allow our schools to reopen safely, and restore critical expanded unemployment benefits
For Immediate Release | October 2, 2020
SEATTLE — After spending weeks grandstanding over her supposed desire to “end the political gamesmanship” and deliver aid to Southwest Washingtonians and small businesses, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler revealed that effort to be nothing but an empty political ploy as she instead chose to engage in political gamesmanship herself and vote against delivering aid to Southwest Washingtonians and small businesses.
When given the opportunity to vote to provide nearly $200 billion in aid to help businesses stay afloat, $175 billion to help schools reopen safely for in-person learning, and to reinstate $600 per week in expanded unemployment benefits for those out of work through no fault of their own, Herrera Beutler showed her true extreme partisan colors and listened to her party bosses in saying no.
“Rep. Herrera Beutler had the opportunity to vote for tens of billions in relief that would make a huge difference for her constituents in Southwest Washington. Instead, she showed how out of touch she is with the people she’s supposed to represent by putting partisan political infighting above the interests of Washingtonians and voting no,” said Tina Podlodowski, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. “Rep. Herrera Beutler can complain all she wants about the fact that Congress hasn’t done its job to support those who sent them to D.C. through this deadly pandemic, but her actions show us she’s not taking this crisis seriously. This vote proves her rhetoric is nothing more than empty words and that she’s a big part of the problem of why our small businesses are going out of business, our schools are closed because they haven’t gotten the funding they need to re-open safely, and our economy is cratering because of Republican obstructionism in the other Washington.”
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