WATCH: Shark Tank’s Mr. Wonderful Snaps After Congressman Calls Him a ‘Canadian Reality TV Star’ in Fiery Clash Over Stimulus Bill
Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, better known to many as “Mr. Wonderful,” lost it after Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) called him a “Canadian reality TV star” on air during a clash over the latest Covid-19 stimulus bill.
CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin spoke with both on Squawk Box Tuesday, as House Democrats are expected to make the final approval on the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill that passed in the Senate this weekend.
“Kevin, help me with this, I don’t disagree with you on the idea of wanting to do this more precisely,” Sorkin said to O’Leary, who had clear issues with the bill. “I think everybody wishes you could actually — like a laser beam just get the money to the most vulnerable people, but if I told you the system is not created in a way that allows for that, is this an acceptable way to do it?”
O’Leary challenged the decision to give employed Americans a stimulus check, noting that those who are unemployed should instead be getting more money
“It’s way too wasteful, and the risk of inflation becomes a big factor. That hurts everybody,” he added, claiming that he thinks the first Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) bill was “60 percent wasted.”
“The economy is going to come back screaming, it doesn’t need anymore stimulus,” he added. Please!”
O’Leary then managed to get Suozzi to agree that there is “some waste” in the latest Covid-19 relief bill, as he raged against the infrastructure spending include in the legislation.
“Amtrak, another billion and a half. They haven’t even spent the first billion. Why is that in this bill anyways?” he exclaimed. “What does that have to do with Covid? There’s so much non-Covid related stimulus in this. It’s a horrible, horrible piece of legislation. And I think every American should read it. It’s just full of waste.”
Sorkin then asked Suozzi if he agrees that there is “waste” in the relief bill.
“There’s some waste. There’s some waste in there. There’s no question there is some waste in there,” Suozzi responded, prompting Sorkin to has how much of the money is “waste.”
“It’s less than a hundred billion dollars of waste, far less. It’s a false narrative that there is waste throughout this bill,” Suozzi responded.
Suozzi went on to say that he agrees with O’Leary and wishes that the stimulus checks were more targeted towards those in need, but added that he can’t get everything he wants.
“And Janet Yellen — who, I’ll take her opinion more than the Canadian reality TV star — says we’re not going to have inflation because we have the controls in place that we can deal with inflation,” Suozzi cracked.
“Wait a second, wait a second, this Canadian TV star, by the way, pays lots of taxes here, has his children that can vote, and is on his way to becoming an American citizen shortly, so I can vote and I can’t wait to do that!” O’Leary shot back.
Suozzi noted that the tragedy felt in the U.S. is incredibly uneven, as some people felt entirely unscathed while others lost family members and loved ones, along with their jobs and economic stability.
“I respect that you serve the country and I really respect what you do, there’s no question, but it doesn’t give you a license to waste money,” O’Leary said. “I want to put up my hand and say I’m a taxpayer, I wish you had fought harder to take out all the pork.”
“Kevin, that’s a false narrative that this is full of a lot of pork,” Suozzi said. “I told you before, there’s $400 billion for checks. There’s $350 billion for state and local aid. There’s $250 billion for unemployment. There’s $219 billion for child care and earned income tax credit. There’s $178 billion for schools. There’s $176 billion for vaccines and testing. There’s $100 billion for farms and small businesses. There’s $47 billion for FEMA. There’s $40 billion for renters.”
Watch above, via CNBC.