As RedState reported, the so-called “bi-partisan infrastructure bill” passed the House last night, delivering a face-saving moment for Nancy Pelosi. And though the bill was expected to eventually pass, it’s how it passed that should have Republicans absolutely fuming.
Per the final tally, 13 House GOP members crossed the aisle to breathe new life into Joe Biden’s agenda (notably, a group of Republican senators started this months ago). But perhaps worse, they also helped diffuse a highly damaging civil war between Democrat leadership and the “squad,” a group of radical progressives led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I’ll explain the dynamics in a moment, but here are the names of the Republicans involved, per National Review.
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick
Representative Don Bacon
Representative Don Young
Representative Fred Upton
Representative Adam Kinzinger
Representative Jeff Van Drew
Representative John Katko
Representative Tom Reed
Representative Andrew Garbarino
Representative Nicole Malliotakis
Representative Chris Smith
Representative David McKinley
Representative Anthony Gonzalez
I’m seeing a few people justify this by insisting that the infrastructure bill was always going to eventually pass. Not only is that not necessarily true, given the progressive opposition, but it’s also irrelevant to what happened last night.
Nancy Pelosi did not have the votes to pass the bill because members of her own party were continuing their revolt. That meant that Republicans had a chance to exacerbate the Democrat civil war by forcing the “squad” to either kill Biden’s agenda or fold in the most public fashion possible. Further, the vote failing would have been a resounding embarrassment for Pelosi herself.
So, what did these 13 GOP members do? They not only saved Biden’s agenda, but they saved Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her contingent from having to face the consequences of their stand. Now, Republicans own this inflation-inducing boondoggle, instead of the radicals in the Democrat Party. Think about how insane that is. All these GOP members had to do was vote ‘no,’ and the left would have remained in utter disarray. Instead, they stepped in and saved them.
Even worse, this all happened after voters delivered stunning victories across the country to Republicans on Tuesday night. Was that message not clear enough for these spineless GOP members? Republican voters do not want nonsensical compromises that help Biden’s presidency while harming the country. They want representatives that will fight the Democrat agenda with everything they’ve got.
Honestly, this is the most disgraceful move by House Republicans in a long time. There is zero chance Pelosi or any Democrat leader would have ever saved a GOP bill in this situation. Where is Kevin McCarthy at? Does he really have this little control over his own caucus? Something has to change, and fast, before 2022 — or Republican voters are going to quickly become disenchanted.
But beltway politics aside, this vote was another gut-punch to the middle-class, who are already dealing with sky-high prices and a gross devaluing of their savings. I don’t care that most of these Republicans are from blue states. They should be primaried with vengeance. Do not forget their names.
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