Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is defending a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package as some Republicans are calling it a “Trojan horse” for Democratic spending.
Cassidy was pressed by Fox News’s Laura Ingraham on Monday about the infrastructure deal as she noted that Reuters said the bill was a “glide path” for a $3.5 trillion spending bill. She asked, “The White House is, as I said, quite giddy about this. Reuters describes this as a glide path to the $3.5 trillion tonight in their write-up of this, senator. So your response?”
“So a couple of things, it is a person in my state, stuck in traffic, who’s fearful of their home flooding, who wants to have a better job, that actually would like to make more money but doesn’t make a lot of money now who really likes this bill. I talked to Fox News watchers, they love this bill,” he responded.
The Louisiana senator claimed that the infrastructure bill will be less meaningful to wealthy Americans because “they have chauffeurs, they have private jets, they can fly here and there if it floods.”
“It’s the people who live in their own home who are at risk of flooding, who like this,” Cassidy added.
Watch the video below:
Cassidy: I talked to Fox News watchers. They love this bill pic.twitter.com/vkWU1wjgVl
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 3, 2021
The $1 trillion infrastructure package would provide billions to overhaul the nation’s roads, bridges, railways, electric grid, replace lead water pipes, expand broadband access, and build a network of electric car charges.
Cassidy noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “wants to link” the $1 trillion infrastructure bill to a $3.5 trillion Democratic spending bill. However, he dismissed the idea that the smaller bill will pave the way for the larger one.
“She doesn’t think she has the votes for that $3.5 trillion,” he said, adding, “I reject your characterization. This bill makes that $3.5 trillion less likely to pass, and the ‘Squad’ knows it. Bernie knows it. They’re the ones who are objecting to this bill, because they think it’s less likely that they pass their $3.5 trillion behemoth.”
Pelosi has previously said that the House would not take up the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless the Senate also passes the larger spending bill with more Democratic spending priorities in it.
Democrats want the Senate to pass the $3.5 trillion bill in the upper chamber through a process known as budget reconciliation which would let them advance the package without any Republican votes. However, in the Senate, Democrats would need all 50 of their members to vote for the bill, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, leaving them no margin for defections.
While Cassidy is adamant that Democrats will struggle to pass the $3.5 trillion bill, other Republicans point to Pelosi’s decision to link the two bills and claim the bipartisan package will pave the way for Democrats to pass their “radical” agenda.
