Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) gave an impassioned speech Wednesday in which he rebuked the “deeply, deeply unconstitutional” COVID restrictions mandated mostly by Democratic governors around the country.
“This madness has to stop,” Crenshaw said on the floor the U.S. House of Representatives. “This arbitrary application of executive orders is deeply, deeply unconstitutional. … Americans have had enough. It is time to stand up against the hypocrisy of these so-called ‘leaders’ deliberately harming the citizens they claim to represent and to condemn the deeply partisan actions of the Speaker of this House.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the main subject of Crenshaw’s speech. In September, Pelosi told Bloomberg’s David Westin she believes “nothing” is better than “something” when it comes to a COVID relief bill.
Last week, Pelosi admitted — as Crenshaw pointed out — the reason she was refusing to negotiate on a COVID bill was because she was holding out for a new president. The American people, the Texas lawmaker said, have “suffered under unscientific, foolish lockdowns” while “Pelosi withheld relief for political purposes.”
“She would say over and over again that nothing is better than something,” Crenshaw said. “She was being honest; she honestly believed that nothing was better than something. But better for who? Not for the American people, that’s for sure. She believed that nothing was better than something — for her and her party. It’s hard to imagine a more awful and heartless strategy.”
He went on to reference Angela Marsden, owner of the Pineapple Hill Grill and Saloon in Los Angeles. As Faithwire previously reported, Marsden posted a heartbreaking video last week in which she showed that, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) have prohibited indoor and outdoor dining, a TV production crew was permitted to set up a sprawling outdoor dining area just feet away from her shuttered restaurant because the mayor has declared entertainment industry workers “essential.”
As a result of the stringent orders from Newsom and Garcetti, Marsden said, “I’m losing everything. Everything I own is being taken away from me and they set up a movie company right next door to me outdoor patio, which is right over here. And people wonder why I’m protesting and why I have had enough.”
Garcetti, for his part, defended his dictates as “necessary.”
“Everyone should have to watch that testimony [from Marsden] as Democrats shut down her outdoor, outdoor dining while a Hollywood studio sets up shop right next door,” Crenshaw said. “She represents millions of Americans suffering who have taken note of the hypocrisy of these lockdowns, of the double standards, as big businesses can operate freely while small businesses are shamed into submission and told wrongly that they are the ones who must sacrifice to slow the spread, that the demise of the business they sent their whole lives building is the price to pay because, ‘If it just saves one life…’”
“But this is scientific nonsense, and we all know it,” he continued. “Study after study shows outdoor dining is safe; that outbreaks are not occurring because of our small businesses, our gyms, our restaurants, our salons, and yet, these small businesses are in the crosshairs of cowardly politicians across the country.”