March 05, 2020 12:40 PM UTC

Whaaa??? Ken Buck Votes No on Coronavirus Funding

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• by: Colorado Pols

THURSDAY UPDATE: By a vote of 96-1, the U.S. Senate approved the $8.3 billion coronavirus response legislation that passed out of the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the lone dissenting voice in the Senate; he joins Colorado Rep. Ken Buck and Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs as literally the only Members of Congress who refused to support a funding bill to help in the response to the ongoing COVID-19 threat. President Trump is expected to sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk.

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UPDATE #2: This is working out well:

NEW: @RepKenBuck‘s spokeswoman says this tweet will be his official statement on voting against Coronavirus preparation funding. The bill passed 415-2. https://t.co/TpynUhXQYV #copolitics #9NEWS

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) March 4, 2020

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UPDATE: Here’s Buck’s, uh, rationale for today’s vote. We’re sure it’s not lost on our readers that a guy accusing Democrats of “politicizing” the coronavirus just did exactly that:

In typical fashion, the House passed a spending package of $8.3 billion with vague plans about how the extra money would be spent.

Throwing money at a problem without adequate forethought is not the answer.

— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) March 4, 2020

Cool. Maybe you can ask the coronavirus to stop infecting people while you have this spending debate.

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There were only two “NO” votes today when the House of Representatives voted to pass an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill for coronavirus (COVID-19) response. As CNBC reports:

The House passed a sweeping bill Wednesday allocating more than $8 billion in emergency funds to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The vote was 415-2. Republican Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado and Andy Biggs of Arizona were the only members to vote against the legislation. [Pols emphasis]

The emergency funding package, which provides more than $3 billion in vaccine research and $2.2 billion in prevention and preparedness efforts, was unveiled hours earlier following days of negotiations on Capitol Hill.

The coronavirus bill will head to the Senate, where leaders there hope they can quickly bring it to a vote. If the bill passes that chamber, it will move to the Oval Office desk of President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.

Yeah, that part about Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley) caused a double-take for us, too. But here’s the official vote count:

We can’t imagine what kind of ridiculous logic Buck will try to use to justify voting “NO” on funding for coronavirus response. Remember that this is the same Ken Buck who is the Chairman of the State Republican Party in Colorado, so he’s really going to have a lot of explaining to do here.