A group of 19 Senate Republicans made ‘history’ for Joe Biden on Tuesday by voting with Chuck Schumer’s Democrats to pass the highly debated so-called “infrastructure” bill.
The Senate passed H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, 69-30, which featured overwhelming support from both Democrats and RINOs.
The Senate Republicans that voted with Democrats for the legislation include:
- Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
- Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Roy Blunt (R-MO)
- Richard Burr (R-NC)
- Deb Fischer (R-NE)
- Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
- Rob Portman (R-OH)
- Thom Tillis (R-NC)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Jim Risch (R-ID)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
- Roger Wicker (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- John Hoeven (R-ND)
- Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Mitt Romney (R-UT)
After the bill’s passing, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a speech on the Senate floor, congratulation his chamber for passing the first major infrastructure bill in over a decade. He reiterated the Democrats’ plan to pass a more radical, more expensive “social infrastructure” package through a reconciliation process. Schumer called this a “two-track” strategy on infrastructure.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who is retiring soon, said the Senate made history by passing the bill through the Senate:
Portman, a lead BIF negotiator, says "The Senate's about the make history" ahead of a vote on final passage
"Theres a joke around town that infrastructure week has come & gone so many times that people are a little cynical when we talk about it. Well today is infrastructure day" pic.twitter.com/1XA4vFFskD
— Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) August 10, 2021
Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) said before the vote that Republicans are “complicit” by supporting the bipartisan bill, as it would lead to the passage of the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion package.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who voted against the bill, took to his Twitter account to explain his decision:
I just voted NO on the first installment of Joe Biden’s massive left wing agenda – no to gender identity mandates, no to the Green New Deal, no to CRT “racial equity” mandates, no to decimating the energy sector – YES to America
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 10, 2021
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who voted against the bill, said in a statement after the vote:
The final legislation is loaded with giveaways to big cities and pet projects that have little to do with real infrastructure. Worse, we’re using fuzzy math and IOU’s to hide the real cost of this massive legislation. I can’t vote for a bill that fails to give Alabama a fair slice of the pie while also saddling Alabama taxpayers with even more debt.
The enormous bill comprises over 2700 pages of D.C. jargon, which has little to do with actual infrastructure that could potentially benefit the country. And to top it off, the $1.2 trillion price tag will do nothing except exacerbate the current rate of inflation.
The Biden administration hopes the bill would help facilitate funding of physical infrastructure, while the Democrat $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill would fund social spending programs, which includes the expansion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to address the “Medicaid gap,” amnesty for illegal aliens, and a civilian climate corps.
While Sens. Portman and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), two GOP lead negotiators of the bipartisan bill, have insisted there is no link between the two infrastructure bills, the passage of the bipartisan bill appears to put the reconciliation bill on a glide path towards passing through Congress.
The passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill also serves as a significant victory for the Senate Republicans that also voted to impeach former President Donald Trump this year, including:
- Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Mitt Romney (R-UT)
- Susan Collins (R-ME)
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the bill would add $256 billion to the deficit, and the Penn-Wharton Budget Model said the bill would add no “significant” level of economic growth.
Thankfully, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) stood against the Senate’s rushed process to pass the $1.2 trillion dollar bill when he objected with Democrats and members of his own party, sparking a Senate floor debate before their recess. Hagerty said the Senate should have time to consider the drastic implications of the several thousand-page bill and open the legislation up for amendments, as the bill was drafted in secret by the bipartisan group of lawmakers, and outside of the normal committee drafting process.
Hagerty refused to consent to the Senate’s advancement of the bill, explaining that the Senate should debate the bill as the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.”
Because of Hagerty’s efforts, the Senate had slowed down the bill’s passage by five days, giving Americans a greater understanding of the $1.2 trillion bill their lawmakers voted for.
The Senate fight over a $30 billion cryptocurrency regulation serves is emblematic of why Hagerty wanted to slow down Schumer and Senate Republicans’ rushing of the infrastructure bill.
To pay for the infrastructure bill, White House negotiators proposed an amendment to further regulate the cryptocurrency market, which would result in $30 billion in new tax revenue for federal coffers.
Pro-crypto Senators, such as Sens. Lummis, Toomey, and Cruz fought to remove the regulations from the bill.
Cruz lambasted the Senate’s ignorance of cryptocurrencies and that the Senate did not go through the traditional legislative process to consider how the proposal could cripple the industry and send American jobs overseas:
Sen. Ted Cruz on the crypto provisions in the infrastructure bill: "There aren't 5 Senators in this body with any real understanding of how cryptocurrency operates. We have had no hearings on this… And yet this body is prepared to obliterated industry willy nilly." pic.twitter.com/lpG7DVewRM
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 9, 2021
We will continue to look for ways to fix the digital asset language in this bill. It might not be today, but we won’t give up.
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) August 10, 2021
The so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill moves to the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged to stall the bill until the Senate also advances the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. The Senate will move forward this week on the budget resolution and the multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure bill soon after.
Author: Sebastian Hayworth
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