GOP leader accuses SC’s Clyburn of playing politics with coronavirus crisis
All seven South Carolinians in the U.S. House returned to Washington on Thursday to vote on whether to create a new congressional committee to police federal dollars being spent on the coronavirus pandemic.
That committee, which ultimately was approved, is to be chaired by one of their home state colleagues who became a political lightning rod during the floor debate.
U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a Columbia Democrat, has been tasked with leading the new so-called House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which the House formally established on Thursday in a party-line, 212-182 vote.
Clyburn has been under scrutiny for saying over a month ago that negotiations on the last, $2 trillion coronavirus economic relief package presented “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
Republicans seized on the comment, leaked from a private members’ only conference call, saying it proved Democrats were looking to use the health crisis as an opportunity to fulfill items on an ideological policy wish list unrelated to the pandemic.
They then used Clyburn’s appointment to the new congressional committee to bolster their argument that the select panel was designed by Democratic leaders to be partisan and redundant to other coronavirus oversight efforts on Capitol Hill.
In remarks on the House floor Thursday, U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., delivered a lengthy indictment of Clyburn, delivering a backhanded compliment by calling him a savvy political operator while implying he also would undoubtedly politicize the process of overseeing taxpayer dollars in response to the pandemic.
“He’s one of the best political minds I know. Joe Biden will tell you that,” McCarthy said. “You see, our dear friend Congressman Clyburn, he should be credited for giving Joe Biden the nomination. When he failed in all the other states, South Carolina was critical. (Clyburn) did politics very well in that endorsement ... he deserves credit, politically, for what he was able to accomplish. We do not question his abilities.
“But ... this is the same individual who said that the pandemic presented the perfect opportunity to restructure things to fit his own vision,” McCarthy continued. “The public does not want to see politics.”
It’s not the first time McCarthy has taken aim at Clyburn on this matter. And Clyburn, who has said the lack of widespread access to reliable internet in rural parts of the country has exacerbated inequities in healthcare and education, has fired back at McCarthy.
“Kevin McCarthy, God bless him, maybe he’s a man of privilege. I’m not. And I don’t represent people of privilege,” Clyburn told The State earlier this month. “If he’s got a problem with me saying we’ve got to see our health care system restructured, our education system restructured, something is wrong with him, not me.”
During floor debate on Thursday, Clyburn remarked that “the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the inequities in our health care system that are having dramatic negative impacts on health outcomes in minority communities.”
Lawmakers returned to session for one day after a month-long absence to vote on this matter along with a $483 billion rescue bill to shore up a depleted loan program for small businesses impacted by the pandemic, plus provide more funding for hospitals and testing.
Though not every member returned, citing concerns about contracting the virus while traveling, the South Carolina delegation was fully represented. Every member voted in favor of the rescue package, which passed, 388-5.
The three South Carolinians who participated in floor debate Thursday were Clyburn, Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham and Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson.
During a brief floor speech, Cunningham criticized colleagues in both parties not having reached a bipartisan agreement sooner after the small business loan fund was emptied out by the overwhelming demand for economic assistance.
Wilson praised the success of the loan fund, known as the Paycheck Protection Program, naming the owner of a Columbia restaurant as among the program’s success stories.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 6:10 PM.
