The so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill has stalled Saturday as Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) leads the Republican opposition.
“I wasn’t elected by the people of Tennessee to be the most popular person in the Senate. I was elected to stand up for their interests,” Hagerty told the Washington Times’ Haris Alic. “I can’t in good conscience vote to accelerate a flawed bill that puts us another quarter of a trillion-plus in debt, especially when we haven’t had an opportunity to dig in and understand its substance or economic ramifications.”
Most of the Senate has wanted to advance the $1.2 trillion, 2,702-page mammoth legislation; however, Hagerty has not consented.
Hagerty continued:
There are a lot of amendments that people want to get past. I’m not objecting to those amendments whatsoever. A lot of them are good amendments that would make the legislation better, were they to pass… I’m also not trying to get any of my amendments included.
Hagerty also cited the national debt as another reason to oppose the bipartisan bill. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the bill would add $256 billion to the debt, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn-Wharton Budget Model found that the bill would create no “significant” economic growth.
“That debt is going to be parked on the backs of our children and grandchildren. And I haven’t heard anybody propose how to fix it. They just want to accelerate the passage of the whole thing,” Hagerty said.
“We very much want to finish this important bill. We can get this done the easy way or the hard way,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Saturday.
Hagerty also said that many amendments still have to be addressed by Congress’ upper chamber.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.