Last week, 17 Republicans joined Senate Democrats in a vote to advance a $1 trillion infrastructure spending package; exposing themselves as the frauds and liars we know them to be when it comes to their oft-repeated promise to rein in spending.
The 67-32 vote moved the legislation forward even though it doesn’t actually exist, but it went a long way to making it possible for Congress to begin their August vacation fundraising tours with constituents back home.
Republicans pretended to block the infrastructure spending package prior to last week’s vote because there wasn’t one (there was no text and no information on how to pay for it), but they decided that hitting the road and pocketing some reelection cash should take precedent.
Following the vote, a “bipartisan” written statement was released stating that the bill now contained enough details to move forward even though there still isn’t a bill to vote on.
“Reaching this agreement was no easy task — but our constituents expect us to put in the hard work and show that two parties can still work together to address the needs of the American people.”
Republican frauds and liars decided to vote in favor of this $1 trillion boondoggle as a “compromise” to Joe Biden’s desire to spend up to $6 trillion on an infrastructure plan that has little to do with infrastructure and everything to do with paying off political allies and advancing the far-left agenda in areas like the Green New Deal.
The vote to advance the $1 trillion infrastructure bill occurred despite a recent promise by “conservative Republicans” to begin tackling the debt. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) — he sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee — regurgitated this Republican election-year talking point during a Fox News Live interview:
“I think the Congress took on debt in order to get us through a once-in-a-lifetime [coronavirus] crisis, at least I hope that’s the case. But we need to begin to bend the curve back at this point. And again, the policies that are coming out of the Biden administration, a $6 trillion infrastructure package, that’s moving in entirely the wrong direction.”
Mitch McConnell — who promised to stop the Biden agenda before supporting it — said he would put up a “hell of a fight” against Schumer if he attempts to pass Biden’s multitrillion-dollar plan along party lines. Specifically, Mickey said there would be a “big argument” about Schumer’s plan to use reconciliation, which allows them to bypass Republicans in the Senate, to pass Biden’s jobs and families plan.
“The era of bipartisanship on this stuff is over. … This is not going to be done on a bipartisan basis. This is going to be a hell of a fight over what this country ought to look like in the future and it’s going to unfold here in the next few weeks. I don’t think we’ve had a bigger difference of opinion between the two parties.”
But that was then and this is now.
McConnell, who was one of the 17 Republicans who voted with Democrats last week, is pushing the “bipartisan” $1 trillion infrastructure package under the premise that it can be handled separately from the rest of Biden’s plan, even though it will ultimately pave the way for Biden to get the rest of what he wants.
Not only is the $1 trillion infrastructure package bad policy, it also exposes Republicans as the frauds and liars we know them to be because Biden and the Democrats have openly stated that this compromise bill will free them up to get the everything else they want (via National Review):
The myth that the group of Republican negotiators has been helping to perpetuate is that there are two completely separate pieces of legislation under consideration: One, a $550 billion bipartisan plan that focuses on traditional infrastructure; and two, a $3.5 trillion social-welfare bill that includes a host of liberal priorities — subsidized college and child care, expansion of Medicare and Medicaid, elements of the Green New Deal, and perhaps even immigration amnesty.
In reality, the two bills are clearly linked. Biden has said so. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has communicated this by moving both bills on parallel tracks. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she would not even bring the bipartisan bill to the House floor for a vote unless the Senate passes both bills.
This connection between the Republican sell-out bill and the rest of Biden’s infrastructure bucket list was confirmed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she insisted in an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union that she and her fellow progressives will prevent the $1 trillion bill from passing unless the Senate also sends both bills.
“It was made very clear at the beginning of this process that this bipartisan deal, if it even survives the Senate, the only chance that it has at passing the House is if the House passes the Senate bill and if the Senate passes the House bill, which is largely in reconciliation.
“We can’t just have one body driving the entire legislative agenda of the country and, frankly, 20 senators within that one body. We need a reconciliation bill . . . if we want this bipartisan bill to pass.”
“Reconciliation” allows legislation to pass on a simple majority vote without a filibuster; AOC was referring to the larger spending package on this point.
When CNN host Jake Tapper asked AOC if she would vote for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, she replied, “We have to hold on to that bargain. If there is not a reconciliation bill in the House and if the Senate does not pass the reconciliation bill, we will uphold our end of the bargain and not pass the bipartisan bill until we get all of these investments in.” (emphasis mine)
Leveraging the Republican liars and frauds to get everything he wants in an infrastructure deal has been Biden’s plan from the very beginning.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell back in May, Biden said he’s fully prepared to take whatever “bipartisan” agreement he can get with Republicans because he’s ready, willing, and able to move forward on his own if he’s unable to get everything he wants in the McConnell compromise capitulation.
“I want to get a bipartisan deal on as much as we can get a bipartisan deal on, and that means roads, bridges, broadband, all infrastructure.
“But I’m not giving up on the fact that we have, you know, 2 million women who are not able to go back to work because all the daycare centers are closed. They’re out of business. And so, they can’t go back to work.
“Let’s see if we can get an agreement to kickstart this — and then fight over what’s left and see if I can get it done without Republicans, if need be.”
By the way, for those ready to play the “we wouldn’t be dealing with this if Trump didn’t have the election ‘stolen’ from him” card, let me remind you that Trump was working with Nancy Pelosi on a plan last year that, according to the Narcissist-in-Chief, would have made him the “greatest infrastructure president” in history. Trump’s plan would have cost trillions of dollars and would have included spending on the same far-left priorities we see in the current legislation.
Infrastructure legislation is just one more way Republicans have exposed themselves as frauds and liars.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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