Congressman Bob Good (R-VA-05) and other members of the House Freedom Caucus blasted infrastructure legislation in a press conference Monday afternoon. The representatives said the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in the Senate has only $100-$200 billion in real infrastructure, warning that other provisions in that bill and a larger $3.5 trillion package are ‘”woke”, part of the Green New Deal, and would weaken the U.S.’ position against China.
“No matter how good some parts of the $1.2 trillion might be, a little sliver of it, we don’t have the money. The latest combined $5 trillion in spending will put us on a path to increase our national debt from the current $28 trillion to $45 trillion in ten years, all to fund, as others have said, amnesty for some 10-20 million illegal aliens in our country, to greatly expand and further bankrupt Medicare more quickly, to pass extreme environmental energy climate policies, a Green New Deal, all to transform us into a Marxist, socialist country,” Good said.
The press conference comes as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) is negotiating to find votes within her own party. House Democrats are split between moderates who don’t support the larger $3.5 trillion proposal that Democratic leadership has said must also pass, while progressives oppose focusing on the bipartisan bill. Although Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and some other Senate Republicans supported the bipartisan bill, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) has said he opposes the bill. Politico reports that he is also facing competing interests between hard-line and moderate wings of his party.
“Both Democrats and Green New Republicans are embracing the left’s failed talking point that highways are racist,” Congressman Scott Perry (R-PA-10) said.
“Neither Democrats nor Republicans should vote for this bill. It’s anti-American,” Perry said later.
Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX-21) said Republicans who support the bill should be voted out of office. He said, “It’s absolutely absurd that you had 19 Senate Republicans vote along with Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion bill on infrastructure.”
Good and the other congressmen discussed other topics briefly and criticized the administration for its handling of the Afghanistan crisis.
A reporter asked about a U.S. military COVID-19 vaccine mandate that Department of Defense Press Secretary John Kirby said is likely after the FDA’s full approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, announced Monday. The military requires service members to get other vaccines including the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine; tetanus-diptheria; and the flu vaccine during flu season. Others may be required.
“What we shouldn’t do is mandate anyone to get the vaccine and certainly not our military,” Good said. “I had two Marines contact me this week and tell me their superiors said they’re going to be dishonorably discharged because they didn’t get the vaccine. That’s a travesty. That is unconstitutional.”
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), who helped work on the bipartisan bill, also talked infrastructure on Monday. He stopped in Harrisonburg to talk about local benefits from the bill.
“We’ve been talking about fixing I-81 for twenty-plus years, since I’ve been involved in Virginia politics. If we pass the bipartisan infrastructure plan, this highway, this bridge, will get fixed and it will be safe and it will be a lot better drive going across western Virginia,” Warner said in a social media video.
– – –
Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bob Good” by Congressman Bob Good. Background Photo “Capitol Hill” by Sdandsd. CC BY-SA 4.0.
