Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) blamed autocorrect for his Twitter account’s reply to a video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that read, “She’s retarded.”
The comment was made in response to a video posted by the Daily Caller in which Pelosi denied that her version of the coronavirus stimulus bill included political policy unrelated to COVID-19.
Cramer later deleted the comment, blaming it on autocorrect.
“I’m really sorry it happened,” Cramer said, adding that he meant to type “she’s ridiculous.”
The Senate agreed on a $2 trillion stimulus package on Wednesday, several days after congressional Democrats first began delaying the bill.
Pelosi’s original House stimulus proposal included “racial pay equity,” bailouts for the postal service, corporate board diversity mandates, airline emissions regulations, newspaper bailouts, election auditing, and mandated early voting.
Texas senator Ted Cruz tore into Pelosi’s stimulus proposal on the Senate floor this week:
“Nancy Pelosi decided it was time to play politics. Decided it was time to throw a grenade into the whole process,” Cruz said. “The demands she’s pushing, I ask you, do they have anything to do with the coronavirus epidemic?”
“What are they pushing for? Changing the emissions standards on airplanes. Mr. President, what the hell do the emissions standards on airplanes have to do with thousands of people dying and millions of people out of work in the coronavirus epidemic,” Cruz thundered from the podium.
Cruz urged Democrats to not treat the stimulus like a “partisan Christmas,” reminding viewers that Republicans have not done the same. “You don’t talk about what I’d like to do, I’d like to abolish the IRS… but Mr. President I’m not standing here with an amendment saying as part of this emergency relief let’s abolish the IRS.”
“The Democrats are pushing wind and solar tax credits,” Cruz continued. “Mr. President, what in the hell does a windmill have to do with this crisis, other than there’s some Democratic lobbyists getting fat and rich, and they’re willing to extort a crisis to advance their political agenda.”
Congressional Democrats have come under heavy bipartisan criticism for their handling of the stimulus bill.
