Marco Rubio won’t get ‘punked’ on COVID-19 relief vote

Sen. Marco Rubio used strong language Wednesday morning vowing opposition to the Democratic COVID-19 relief package, saying in a Twitter video that he wouldn’t get “punked” into voting for the $1.9 trillion package approved by the House on party lines.

The Senate will likely vote on it today.

“I’m not going to get punked into voting for a bill that helps Pelosi bail out California, that helps Schumer bail out the predator Governor of New York,” Rubio said in a Twitter video, referring colloquially to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, facing serial accusations of sexual harassment from former staffers and associates.

“That I’m not going to get punked into voting for,” Rubio vowed, regarding a bill that Senate Democrats have the numbers to pass with Vice President Kamala Harris‘ tiebreaker vote.

The creative was not without a shiv at the media for sins of omission in coverage.

“The people who cover this are too lazy or too biased, or maybe a little of both,” Rubio noted, to stress that he voted for and crafted provisions in previous bipartisan COVID-19 relief packages.

The Senator took to Fox and Friends toward the end of the program Wednesday, and offered a similarly staunch critique to a national cable news argument.

“The broader bill is a fraud,” Rubio said of the so-called “Washington Special,” again using the phrase the “predator Governor of New York” and saying Republicans shouldn’t get “punked and pressured.”

Rubio’s critiques are echoed by other leading Republicans, including Florida’s Governor, who has decried the federal package as unfair to Florida.

On Monday in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was “fundamentally unfair to penalize a state like Florida” for successful outcomes in managing the economic consequences of the coronavirus epidemic, specifically regarding keeping unemployment numbers lower than states that do better under the funding model.

“In some respects, it’s Washington at its worst,” DeSantis claimed, saying the package was “a Christmas tree” for Democratic interest groups.

“If Florida’s 6½% of the population, we would get 6½% of what you’re going to do. You want to send it, don’t send it, that’s fine. But if you’re going to send it, it should be fair. And we shouldn’t be penalizing states for doing a good job, but that’s exactly what this bill does,” DeSantis contended.

“States like Florida that have lower unemployment are getting penalized. States like New York and California that have higher unemployment, they’re getting a windfall.”

This isn’t a #Covid relief bill pic.twitter.com/YrptBJQssD

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 3, 2021