PADUCAH, KY (WSIL) -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was in Paducah Thursday morning to meet with business leaders, lawmakers and city officials.
Mr. McConnell's visit essentially gave an update on issues in Washington. He says the pandemic is "clearly coming to an end," the question now is, "Where do we go from here."
The Senate Republican leader acknowledge he did not vote for the most recent COVID relief bill, costing $2 trillion, but says it should bring $4 billion to Kentucky, compared to the $2 billion from the CARES Act and other relief programs last year. He says while this is good news for local and state governments, it is a mistake for the country as a whole.
"Lawrence Summers who was Bill Clinton's Secretary of Treasury, he said back in February when the rescue package was about to be passed, that he thought dumping this amount of money on the country would create rampant inflation," explained McConnell. "Every person I've talked to, in Owensboro, Henderson, Shelbyville and Paducah, who is running a business says, we've got raising inflation."
He says the debate now is how to move Washington forward to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill, and how to get Americans back to work, which he says starts with Governors opting out of the federal unemployment benefits.
"Twenty-three states have now Governors who said, 'we're going to discontinue taking the $300 per week bonus on top of our state unemployment,' Kentucky alas, is not one of them," says McConnell. Those governors opting out of the federal program tell him, says McConnell, "in order to help get people incentivized to go back to work."
"So, I think that's a mistake (that Kentucky is not opting out)," says McConnell, adding, "I don't generally go around criticizing the Governor, he's a hard job to do, but I do think that's a mistake and I think it puts Kentucky at a competitive disadvantage."
On infrastructure, he says he asked Sen. Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia to take the lead on working with the president on passing a bill. She met with President Biden Wednesday, says McConnell, and he spoke with her after.
"We're still hoping we can come to an agreement on a fully paid for, and significant, infrastructure package," says McConnell. "I know that would be welcomed by all state governments and local governments all over the country."
