FactChecking Cruz’s Partisan Spin on COVID-19 Bill

Sen. Ted Cruz says only 9% of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan “focuses on health spending” and that the remaining “91% is a partisan wish list paying off the Democratic special interests that got them elected.”

While arguably 9% of the bill is for COVID-19 health spending — depending on how one defines that term — to call the remaining 91% a “partisan wish list” ignores that Republicans offered an alternative $618 billion rescue bill that included many of the same elements of the Democratic plan, albeit in smaller amounts.

For example, the by the House Democrats includes $1,400 stimulus checks for individuals earning less than $75,000 and $2,800 to married couples earning less than $150,000. That is estimated to cost.