[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 72 (Monday, May 2, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GOVERNMENT FUNDING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, sure, the Democrats' $2 trillion 
didn't buy our country anything lasting like a Hoover Dam or an 
Interstate Highway System--nothing like that--but the money had to go 
someplace--and, boy, did it ever.
  Democrats and lots of the media spent most of 2020 and 2021 shouting 
that Republicans were risking calamity because we didn't want to dump 
endless sums into slush funds for State and local governments. It turns 
out we were right, and they were wrong. State and local governments are 
now so awash in Democrat bailout money they can't even figure out where 
to put it.
  One recent news report found this bonanza has ``provided a boon for 
localities seeking to build or upgrade their pickleball amenities.'' 
Yes, you heard that right.

       Dozens of municipalities are adding pickleball courts to 
     their park and recreation offerings--and many are using a 
     slice of their coronavirus aid package to underwrite the 
     construction boom. If the Hoover Dam and the Lincoln Tunnel 
     are enduring monuments to the New Deal's infrastructure 
     spending, perhaps pickleball courts will become a lasting 
     legacy of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

  In New York, one county set aside $12 million in so-called relief 
funds to renovate a minor league baseball stadium. In Iowa, county 
officials put aside $2 million--listen to this--to buy a private ski 
area. In Colorado, two golf courses are getting their irrigation 
systems replaced, thank goodness. In Wisconsin, a skate park is getting 
a million-dollar makeover.
  The American Rescue Plan didn't rescue working people from anything. 
It only rescued bureaucrats from any semblance--any semblance--of 
fiscal sanity.
  Remember, Democrats openly admitted they viewed pandemic relief as an 
ideological Trojan horse. They called this terrible, deadly virus ``a 
tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.''
  And so right on cue, their so-called rescue plan has funded 
environmental justice grants to address something called inequitable 
tree canopy cover in Massachusetts. Some public school systems, in the 
vice grip of Big Labor, are using their windfalls to advance bizarre 
indoctrination in things like critical race theory.
  The rescue plan dollars have funded staff trainings to make sure the 
educators paid to look after young kids are up on all of the latest 
``woke'' buzzwords and causes.
  The American people wouldn't want this junk if it were free. They 
definitely don't want it for the pricetag of $2 trillion of their money 
and the worst inflation in a generation.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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