In a statement from Rep. Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office Wednesday, the House Minority Whip said that Republican leadership would be asking members to vote against the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
In the Senate, the infrastructure bill passed easily, with all 50 Democrats and 19 Republicans in the upper chamber supporting the bill. Of those, many big-name Republicans like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and former presidential candidates Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signed on with the bill.
But the bill has already faced challenges in the House due to divisions between the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic caucus.
Through much of August and September, a small group of moderates said that they would not support the $3.5 trillion budget bill before the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill; progressives in the House made a corollary promise that they would not support the infrastructure bill before the passage of the budget. Both groups control enough votes to make good on their promise and sink the other’s priorities.
An eleventh-hour intervention by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) caused the moderates to relent. Pelosi promised the moderates then that the infrastructure bill would be considered by Sept. 27.
Progressives in the House still refuse to pass the infrastructure bill before the budget is passed, while moderates still refuse to pass the budget if the infrastructure bill is not considered before the agreed-upon deadline.
Now, Republican leadership is adding to Pelosi’s trouble by asking its members in the lower chamber to vote against the legislation.
Infrastructure Bill ‘Gateway’ to ‘Socialist Tax and Spend Bill’: Scalise
In his statement, Scalise explained the party’s reasoning for this. He wrote, “Speaker Pelosi has made it clear that the Senate infrastructure bill is now inextricably linked to her extremist, socialist $3.5 trillion tax and spend bill.”
By Joseph Lord
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