On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) revealed he's not going to attend President Joe Biden's signing ceremony of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. When he asked if he was going to attend during a radio interview with WHAS, McConnell responded "no, I've got other things I've got to do other than go to the signing ceremony." It's a curious decision considering McConnell was one of the most vocal Republicans when it came to supporting the bill. It passed the Senate in August. Former President Donald Trump shared his thoughts in a Saturday statement calling McConnell out.
NEW!
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) November 13, 2021
President Donald J. Trump:
“Mitch McConnell has stated that he will not go to the signing of the “Non-Infrastructure” Bill (only 11% for real Infrastructure) or, as it is sometimes called, the Elect Democrats in 2022/24 Act. It gives Biden and the Democrats a victory just pic.twitter.com/KlfEsXDBQ0
"Mitch McConnell has stated that he will not go to the signing of the ‘Non-Infrastructure’ Bill (only 11% for real Infrastructure) or, as it is sometimes called, the Elect Democrats in 2022/24 Act," the statement began.
"It gives Biden and the Democrats a victory just as they were falling off the cliff. Based on the fact that the Old Crow convinced many Republican Senators to vote for the Bill, greatly jeopardizing their chance of winning re-election, and that he led the way, he should go to the signing and put up with the scorn from Great Republican Patriots that are already lambasting him. Our Country is being destroyed while Mitch McConnell gives lifelines to those who are destroying it!"
The "Old Crow" moniker comes from Trump's Tuesday statement calling out Republicans, including McConnell by name.
NEW!
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) November 9, 2021
President Donald J. Trump:
"Why is it that Old Crow Mitch McConnell voted for a terrible Democrat Socialist Infrastructure Plan, and induced others in his Party to do likewise, when he was incapable of getting a great Infrastructure Plan wanting to be put forward by me... pic.twitter.com/AFvw5hTLhq
The former president, who is still very much a relevant figure in the GOP, has been calling out the infrastructure bill from the start, specifically Republicans who voted for it. It passed the Senate in August by a 69-30 vote, which included 19 Republicans.
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The bill passed the House last week by a 228-206 vote, which included 13 Republicans. There had been months of delays and much disunity, disarray, and confusion leading up to the vote. It was initially supposed to receive a vote alongside the $1.75 trillion reconciliation spending bill, but that will have to wait until later this month to get a vote, after it's been scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
On Monday, shortly after the vote, Trump called out the 13 Republicans at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner that night. "I love all the House Republicans. Well, actually, I don’t love all of you. I don’t love the 13 that voted for Biden’s infrastructure plan," the former president reportedly said.
As Leah reported, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), one of those 13, was in attendance, and was "visibly shaken," according to Juliegrace Brufke with the New York Post.
In a joint statement from July, as Reagan reported, Heritage Action, FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Taxpayers Protection Alliance and the Coalition to Protect American Workers warned that it was still cause for concern:
“The latest “compromise” infrastructure framework agreed to by some Senators is no compromise at all. The top three Democratic leaders in Washington, DC have made clear that the compromise framework is being held hostage by Speaker Pelosi and is tied to a hyper-partisan reconciliation package being shepherded through by avowed socialist Bernie Sanders. This partisan package constructed to appease the Radical Left is likely to include the largest expansion of the welfare state since Lyndon B. Johnson, the Green New Deal, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and $6 trillion in total spending, paid for by job-killing taxes and more debt on Americans.
Even alone, the “compromise” package that some Senate Republicans signaled support toward doesn’t pass the smell-test. The proposal would spend $1.2 trillion on Left-leaning priorities and fails to properly pay for it. The “compromise” includes more funding for President Biden’s favorite earmark – Amtrak - and mass transit than it includes in funding for highways. Moreover, it funds Leftist climate change and resiliency funding, subsidies for electric vehicle use, and unnecessary environmental clean-ups. And to cover the costs, negotiators included gimmicky pay-fors like increased IRS audits (while vastly expanding the size, scope, and cost of the IRS) and sales of public goods like wireless spectrum and national oil reserves — all of which should instead be used to pay down our national debt obligations.
While most Americans expect our government to fund interstate infrastructure like roads, and bridges, they do not expect their lives to be fundamentally altered under an “infrastructure in name only” grab bag of socialist-derived policies.
Senators should reject the disastrous Biden/Bernie infrastructure framework that adds trillions of federal spending to the national debt and return to the drawing board to deliver a plan that responsibly and fully reopens the U.S. economy. The suspension of the debt limit expires on August 1. Congress should work on avoiding a fiscal crisis, not exacerbating one.”
Further, the final infrastructure bill doesn't even adequately address one of the Biden administration's chief concerns, which is climate change.
The White House had announced on Wednesday that the president will be holding a signing ceremony on Monday with members from both parties.
