Coronavirus bill: Congressman Michael Waltz supports it despite spending 'grandchildren's money'

News-Journal (Daytona Beach, FL)

Congressman Michael Waltz, who represents Volusia and Flagler counties, said he will vote in support of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill Friday.

The bill, known as the CARES Act, provides billions to big businesses, hospitals, public health agencies and state and local governments, but most directly will provide checks of up to $1,200 for individuals earning $75,000 or less, and up to $2,400 for married couples earning up to $150,000, with an additional $500 per child.

"This is $2 trillion of our grandchildren's money," said Waltz, speaking to The News-Journal by phone as he walked to the Capitol. "As a fiscal conservative, this is not an easy vote, but our country is in a crisis and individuals and businesses need help."

In particular, many of the tourism-related businesses throughout Volusia and Flagler counties -- hotels, restaurants and other services -- are "struggling so badly" as coronavirus protections are keeping people home.

Waltz said he worked with the staff of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, on some of the provisions included in the bill, including the Paycheck Protection Program, nearly $350 billion in payroll assistance to businesses with 500 or fewer employees.

If employers maintain their payroll through June 1, the loans will be forgiven.

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"Another provision that's in there that allows small businesses to defer their payroll taxes until 2021 or 2022, and write off additional types of losses," Waltz said. "And for the hospitality industry, you can now, if you recently concluded any renovations in the last two years, you can write that off immediately, rather than amortizing that for over 30 years. All of that will be helpful."

From the House floor Friday, Waltz compared coronavirus to a war zone, and health-care workers as soldiers.

"These hospitals are the Omaha Beach of this war," he said. "We have a duty to provide these soldiers what they need. We have a duty to support this bill."

Rubio and his fellow Florida Sen. Rick Scott both voted for CARES Act late Wednesday.

"Communities across Florida and our nation are reeling from this unprecedented crisis, and today the Senate acted on an unprecedented response to provide relief to Americans, small businesses, and our economy," Rubio said. "Our bipartisan small business package, which was included, will provide emergency relief so that millions of American workers can keep their jobs and millions of small businesses can stay open."

Waltz, a Republican, said his party "successfully fought off a lot of the political agenda (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) tried to put in," such as requiring airlines to go carbon neutral for domestic flights by 2025.

"This is not the time," Waltz said. "Using a crisis as a way to slide that in was very disappointing."

Last week Waltz held a telephone town hall on coronavirus and more than 10,000 people listened in on the call, said Allison Nielsen, his senior adviser and communications director.

On the call, she polled participants and learned 81% said they were "very concerned" about the virus, while 19% said they were not.

More than 90% of the participants said President Donald Trump was handling coronavirus "very well" or "somewhat well." More than 8 in 10 said they support economic stimulus for small businesses and the hospitality, airline and cruise industries.

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