Senate Conservatives: Infrastructure Bill ‘First Step’ to Democrats’ Liberal Wish List

Money
AFP / Stringer/ Getty Images
Sean Moran

Senate conservatives railed against the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill Tuesday, charging that the legislation is the “first step” to Democrats’ other $5.5 trillion “tax-and-spend liberal wish list.”

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rick Scott (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Mike Lee released a joint statement, contending the bipartisan infrastructure bill, or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, serves as only the beginning of the Democrats’ “liberal wish list.”

The Senate conservatives said:

We can’t spend money we don’t have. Period. Just look at what is happening with inflation. We were promised this infrastructure bill was fully paid for, and now we see that it’s not. This was nothing more than a bait and switch. $205 billion of this bill was to be paid for with repurposed COVID funds. The latest proposal only shows $50 billion in COVID funds being used, as well as a lot of the proposed ‘pay-fors’ missing. So we are asking our colleagues: How is this infrastructure spending bill being paid for? We still don’t know. We still don’t have a score on this legislation from the Congressional Budget Office. Let’s not forget, this is just the first step in the Democrats’ plan to pass their $5.5 trillion tax-and-spend liberal wish list. We support infrastructure, but it has to be paid for. This proposal isn’t it.

Hawley said that the Family Research Council will oppose the infrastructure bill.

“Not only will it hurt working class families with higher inflation, higher costs, and – inevitably – higher taxes, it also furthers the Left’s radical social agenda,” Hawley wrote:

The Family Research Council (FRC) said in their released that the Digital Equity Act, a part of infrastructure bill, has a “non-discrimination” clause that “elevates sexual orientation and gender identity to a specially protected class status.

Heritage Action for America also said they will “key vote” the legislation, urging senators to oppose the bill. The group said in its statement, “The legislation recklessly spends $1 trillion, despite the fact that the national debt is approaching $30 trillion and inflation is surging to levels not seen in 13 years, all of which is “paid” for by using slick accounting tricks.”
“Not only is the deal bad policy, but it is also a bad process, as it is a prerequisite to passing the rest of President Biden’s catastrophic agenda through a Democrat-only reconciliation package,” Heritage Action added.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.