Despite its moniker as a “bipartisan infrastructure bill,” the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act contains no conservative victories but has many leftist carveouts.
President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, marking Biden’s most significant legislative victory since Congress passed his coronavirus rescue plan in March, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
This infrastructure bill serves as one part of Biden’s infrastructure agenda. The other bill, the $1.75 trillion reconciliation Build Back Better Act, would fund “human infrastructure,” expanding American welfare programs and climate change policies.
Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and other Democrats have compared his Build Back Better legislative agenda to the New Deal and the Great Society programs even though Democrats have scaled down the Build Back Better Act from $3.5 to $1.75 trillion.
The passage of the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill would not have been possible without the support and advocacy of 19 Senate Republicans and 13 House Republicans.
The 19 Senate Republicans who voted for the bill in August include:
- Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
- Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Roy Blunt (R-MO)
- Richard Burr (R-NC)
- Deb Fischer (R-NE)
- Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
- Rob Portman (R-OH)
- Thom Tillis (R-NC)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Jim Risch (R-ID)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
- Roger Wicker (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- John Hoeven (R-ND)
- Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Mitt Romney (R-UT)
The 13 House Republicans who voted for the bill include:
- John Katko (R-NY),
- Don Bacon (R-NE),
- Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ),
- Fred Upton (R-MI),
- Adam Kinzinger (R-IL),
- Don Young (R-AK),
- Tom Reed (R-NY),
- Chris Smith (R-NJ),
- Andrew Garbarino (R-NY),
- Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY),
- Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA),
- Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH),
- David McKinley (R-WV)
While these 32 Republicans helped shepherd the bill into law, other conservatives have railed and messaged against the bill for months.
Woke Victories in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), the Republican Study Committee (RSC) chairman, noted that only $110 billion of the $1.2 trillion in spending would fund roads, bridges, and other projects that most Americans would consider infrastructure.
The RSC wrote that it would include $66 billion in funding for Amtrak while preventing any taxpayer accountability for the railway service.
The bill would fix “racism physically built into some of our highways,” as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has claimed.
Continue: Breitbart.com
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