Freshman Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) said in a Tuesday interview that he voted against a proposal to provide Americans with direct $2,000 payments out of concern the federal debt could “slow” the economy.

“I voted yes for the $600 check,” Reschenthaler said in the interview on Fox Business Network, referring to a $908 billion proposal initially passed by Congress this month. “I think it is really important to take a step back. During the summer, myself and my colleagues voted for literally trillions of dollars in relief. … It included not only direct stimulus payments, it included increased amounts for unemployment compensation, it included extra money for … the very popular paycheck protection program, money to get vaccines distributed. It was a holistic, bipartisan approach.

“But when it comes to this most recent bill I think we have to take a moment, pause, and see how the last package plays out, and make sure when we move forward we get help to people who actually need it,” He added.

Reschenthaler has taken a bipartisan approach to federal spending since taking office in 2019. Six months after joining Congress in January of that year, he joined 64 other House Republicans in voting with Democrats to raise the federal debt ceiling and pass a spending proposal that was expected to add $1.7 trillion to the federal debt over the course of a decade. Sixteen Democrats and 133 House Republicans voted against that plan.

Federal debt has grown much more quickly in intervening days than analysts expected, from $16.1 trillion when Reschenthaler first took office to $27.5 trillion at the end of 2020.

Increasing the size of direct payments to Americans making less than $75,000 annually from $600 to $2,000, a measure President Donald Trump has vocally called on Congress to enact, would add up to an additional $385 billion to the stimulus measure congressional negotiators had initially agreed upon, increasing the federal debt by a little more than 1 percent. The House voted 275-134 on Monday to move forward with that plan.

Reschenthaler said the big spending was just too much for him to stomach.

“We have got to remember as we move forward — debt and deficit, we need to tackle these issues, because by definition, economic inflation, debt and deficit are nothing more than taxation on future Americans, [and] that will slow our economic growth and recovery,” Reschenthaler said. “Additionally, I still stand by the point the strongest stimulus we can give the American economy is to end draconian lockdowns. Americans want to get back to work.”

Watch above via Fox Business News.

The post GOP Congressman Who Voted for Trillions in New Spending Fumes Over ,000 Checks: Debt Could 'Slow Our Economic Growth' first appeared on Mediaite.

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