Hagerty on Infrastructure Vote: ‘Could Well Be This Doesn’t Happen This Year’

Tuesday on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) sounded off on the ongoing negotiations among Democrats for their infrastructure bill, which he described as a “hostage” bill.

Host Maria Bartiromo asked Hagerty if he expected a vote on the infrastructure package this week like the Democrats believe could happen.

Hagerty said he thinks it would be “very difficult” for the Democrats to get a vote in this week and suggested “it could well be” next year before Democrats could get a vote in.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult, Maria,” Hagerty replied. “As you saw yesterday, Joe Manchin’s frustration with this is palpable. It’s something I’ve been predicting, though, since August of this past year. If you look at what the Democrats did and what they’ve been signaling all along, they created their hostage with the so-called infrastructure bill, but the whole point of this hostage was to use it as a way to force moderate Democrats like Joe Manchin, like Kyrsten Sinema and others to vote for this massive socialization of America tax and spending spree that they’ve been talking about. That’s been the plan all along. Biden signaled it. Pelosi signaled it. Chuck Schumer has gone along with it. Now that they’re trying to push it through. You’ve seen the most left members of the House really press this hard, linking the bills. Again, this is what I said would happen in August. That’s playing itself out. And this is not the way to do business, as Joe Manchin said, but this what is they’re trying to play.”

He later added, “[T]he more we talk about this bill, the more difficult it becomes for Democrats to push it through. I do not think anything happens this week. I think right now — today, all eyes are on Virginia. What you’re seeing happen there is a repudiation of Joe Biden’s policies. McAullife tried to nationalize the election, and his numbers cratered as a result of that. You’re going to see Joe Biden come back after his apology tour in Europe. This is not going to be a nice return for him because what he’s done is precipitate crisis after crisis after crisis here in America. The American public [is] fed up with it. You look at Biden’s polling. He’s crashing in the polls. So, I think it’s going to be very difficult for them to show any momentum whatsoever. I’m with you — Thanksgiving at the earliest, and it could well be that this doesn’t happen this year.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent