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13 Republican Congressmen Save Pelosi, Biden on $1.2T Infrastructure Vote
Six Democrats voted against the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan (BIF) late Friday night, which should have killed the legislation. Instead, 13 Republicans rode to Nancy Pelosi’s rescue and voted yes. The BIF passed the Senate nearly two months ago, so the legislation will head straight to the White House for the President’s signature.
Here are the Republicans for Pelosi:
- Rep. Don Bacon (R–NE)
- Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R–PA)
- Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R–NY)
- Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R–OH)
- Rep. John Katko (R–NY)
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R–IL)
- Rep. Nicole Malliatokis (R–NY)
- Rep. David McKinley (R–WV)
- Rep. Tom Reed (R–NY)
- Rep. Chris Smith (R–NJ)
- Rep. Fred Upton (R–MI)
- Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R–NJ)
- Rep. Don Young (R–AK)
Despite Democrats not having the necessary support, the final vote was 228-206 thanks to these 13 Republicans. Each should be primaried, at least those who aren’t retiring. And it’s time for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) to be removed as House Minority Leader since he has demonstrated brutal incompetence.
For the record, here are the six Democrats who voted against the bill:
- Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D–NY)
- Rep. Cori Bush (D–MO)
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–NY)
- Rep. Ilhan Omar (D–MN)
- Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D–MA)
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D–MI)
If Adam Kinzinger was any more of a tool, he’d have “Stanley” stamped on his butt.
I heard from a friend back home that Kinzinger is thinking of running for Governor of Illinois. The only thing in Illinois he should be running for is the state line.
Yeah, Adam Kinzinger who only voted to impeach Trump because of his “deeply held conservative principles”… just voted with Democrats on a two trillion dollar infrastructure bill that only spends about $500B on actual infrastructure.
Maybe the Republicans will run on Repealing and Replacing it.
Perhaps these 13 Republicans thought that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan was a good idea, I sure do. (I support physical infrastructure like roads and bridges, not the so-called “human infrastructure” scheme.)
Most of these members are from the Northeast, and they are representing the will and interests of their constituents. The Amtrak tunnel under the Hudson is 110 years old. It allows only 24 trains an hour when both tubes are open. But it was damaged during Super Storm Sandy, and when one of the tubes needs repair, only 6 trains can pass in an hour. If this tunnel were ever closed, it would cripple Amtrak not only in New York, but throughout the entire Northeast Corridor.
There are numerous other infrastructure projects. That helps explain why Mitch McConnell and 18 other Republican Senators voted for this in the Senate. There is a bottleneck inadequate bridge over the Ohio River which connects to, wait for it, Kentucky!
Under Baltimore, the almost 150 year old B&P tunnel is so tight that the Amtrak trains must slow to 30 miles per hour to transit it. https://www.amtrak.com/bptunnel. There are a series of other bridges that need to be replaced on the Northeast Corridor, such as over the 115 year old bridge over the two track Susquehanna River Bridge. See https://nec.amtrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Amtrak_RTB_SusqRiverBridge_Final.pdf For more information, see https://nec.amtrak.com/readytobuild/.
I don’t know about all of you, but I enjoy our Interstate Highway system, which covers all 50 states. We are the United States, and the interstates tie us together and move people and supplies. To quote Jimmy Hoffa, if you ate dinner tonight, the food was transported by a truck. The majority of factories are located with a dozen miles of a freeway. Having freeways serve all of us.
One last point. Six radical members of the so-called Squad voted against this bill. They are
Do you really want to be on their side?
Cuz we never stop falling for that.
I have.
The thing no one seems to be bringing up is that the Federal Fuel tax already raises over $300 Billion every year that is supposed to be spent on maintaining and improving national infrastructure. So, what happened to that money? Why wasn’t that used to maintain and improve infrastructure.
Spoiler: Congress squandered it so now they’re piling another two trillion onto the debt.
That’s what those thirteen Republicans voted for.
And they have the full-throated support of rock-ribbed conservatives like Gary.
California Governor Ronald Reagan spearheaded the building and expansion of the Foothills Freeway in Los Angeles during his two terms from 1967 to 1975; if freeways were good enough for Reagan, they are good enough for me. In fact, while President Reagan supported a drop in income tax rates, he more than doubled the federal gas tax from 4 cents a gallon to 9 cents a gallon. We need good roads, and we need to pay for them.
Instead of calling me names, why don’t you stick to the issues? The Code of Conduct prohibits:
I argued for the infrastructure bill on its merits. Let’s compete in the world of facts and not sling mud at each other.
Progressives fight Democrats harder than the worthless GOP fights Democrats. Where was the leadership of Kevin McCarthy? How come he didn’t make it clear to this party that we aren’t to save this president or Pelosi? And why after a giant win in Virginia did he not have the strength to make that happen? Go ahead and make him majority leader in a year and celebrate. All we will get is more of this.
I said that you are a rock-ribbed conservative. You take offense?
This is why the Confederacy was right to ban internal improvements at the central level. Not that they were ever permitted under the United States constitution in the first place, but who cares about all that boring originalism stuff, right?
I believe that you were being sarcastic. I amended this comment to add that Reagan spearheaded the building of the Foothills Freeway in LA while he was governor and as President, he increased the federal gas tax from 4 cents to 9 cents a gallon.
The Confederacy was wrong on that one. The Republican Party came from the Whigs (“We Hope In God”), and Republicans spearheaded the uniting of the continent with the transcontinental railroad during Lincoln’s terms, beginning in 1863 and completing after his death in 1869. https://www.google.com/search?q=transcontinental+railroad&rlz=1C1OKWM_enUS925US925&oq=transcontinen&aqs=chrome.0.0i433i512j69i57j46i199i433i465i512j0i512l7.8463j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Teddy Roosevelt built the Panama Canal. And Ike was the father of the Interstate Highway System.
Some of the non-infrastructure pork that makes up about three-fourths of the bill just passed includes:
The CBO says it will increased deficits by $256 Billion. That’s a low-ball estimate.
But, hey, Joe Manchin’s wife can get her own Maserati, at least.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cbo-estimates-infrastructure-bill-would-add-256-billion-to-deficits-11628196739
I bet that there is some money in there for Interstate 11, which will go from the Mexican Border to Northern Nevada and later to Canada through Idaho and/or Oregon. http://www.i11study.com/arizona/ When the Interstate Highway Act was enacted in 1956, the Phoenix area had only 388,000 people, in 2021 it has 4,584,000. In 1956, the Las Vegas area had 62.000 people; in 2021 it has 2,772,000. Phoenix and Las Vegas are the two largest cities without a direct interstate connection, now that Interstate 22 connects Memphis and Birmingham. When the Interstate Highway System was planned there was no need for a direct freeway between the Phoenix and Las Vegas areas. Now there is a strong need, and frankly California is delighted to have another freeway take the burden off of I-5. (Also, in 1956, freeways directly connected every city with an NFL team; we now need a freeway directly connecting the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders.)
Trump talked up infrastructure for years but did nothing.
It turns out that Biden is a greater builder than Trump.
Why Trump did not do this deal is beyond me. He could have gotten $10 billion to finish the dang wall also.
Trump wanted to do it without the pork. Congress refused.
Trump can’t actually build anything.
And the Confederacy collapsed. Maybe if it had spent more on infrastructure it would still exist, but happily it collapsed.
Et tu, Nebraska?
I guess the guy named Bacon likes pork.
One man’s pork is another man’s essential project. I’d say that new tunnels and bridges for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor make lots of sense, as do the bridge across the Ohio River, and Interstate 11.
If that was true, then it would imply Trump was bad at making deals.
The Whigs were not the We Hope In God party. I don’t know why you keep saying that. There’s really no evidence that that came from the British party, either.
Read original documents, not popular history, and you’ll know why internal improvements were not granted to the central government. The Confederacy was 100% right in specifically banning them in their constitution. With the Pacific Railway Act, Lincoln got cronies rich by making nonsensical rail paths that just happened to conveniently pass through their towns. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific both went bankrupt as soon as they were completed, were inefficient, and corrupt.
The argument that railways couldn’t happen without a bureaucracy in place is also wrong. All of Britain’s railways at this time were funded privately alomg with James Hill’s Great Northern in the US. The Great Northern ran far more efficiently than either of Lincoln’s. And it didn’t require massive subsidies and a gigantic bureaucracy to maximize efficiency. Simple economic reality.
Bacon represents NE-2, the Omaha area. I am sure they need more roads and better bridges over the Missouri River. Also, a new by-pass is being built south of Lincoln near by, and who knows, maybe he wants to be governor or senator some day.
Trump made every other week infrastructure week , and he made McConnell’s wife Transportation Secretary. Nothing got built.
Remember when Republicans used to pretend to be fiscally conservative? I hope their voters enjoy the mileage tax.
I remember when they cheered on with pom-poms pointless Middle Eastern wars while US infrastructure collapsed.
One man’s pork is another politician’s essential kickback.