“Extreme” House Democrats are holding the $1.2 trillion so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill “hostage,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) lamented in a statement Friday.
Romney released his statement after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) failed to hold a vote Thursday on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Leftist Democrats, led by House progressive caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), whipped up her fellow progressives against the bipartisan bill because they want to move forward on the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) speaks to reporters as she leaves the U.S. Capitol on September 29, 2021 in Washington, DC. With a federal government shutdown looming, Congressional Democrats are working to find common ground between their progressive and moderate members so to try and pass a handful of legislation, including bills on infrastructure, the White House’s Build Back Better Act and the debt limit. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
In his statement, Romney claimed progressives continue to hold the bill hostage and that the bipartisan has nothing to do with the Build Back Better Act.
He said:
This week, my colleagues in the House made a purely political decision to block a vote on much-needed, broadly supported legislation to fix America’s crumbling infrastructure. It is unacceptable that a major piece of bipartisan legislation, which is vital to our economy and necessary to keep important transportation programs going, is being held hostage by the most extreme House Democrats for a completely unrelated and still unwritten piece of legislation. What a profound disappointment, and how unfortunate to put politics over what is good for our country.
Despite Romney’s claim, the $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which serves as the legislative vehicle for the radical Build Back Better, contains language that proves the link between the two bills.
Section 4,010 of the budget resolution, which serves as the legislative vehicle for the Democrats’ reconciliation bill, allows for House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) to make changes to the bipartisan bill as he sees fit.
The section reads:
In the House of Representatives, the chair of the Committee on the Budget may adjust the allocations, ag- gregates, and other budgetary levels included in this con- current resolution to reflect changes resulting from the en- actment of an infrastructure bill or joint resolution, in- cluding legislation implementing the INVEST in America Act or a bipartisan infrastructure agreement.
This would appear to prove conservative’s arguments that backing the bipartisan bill would only enable and further the partisan infrastructure bill.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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