Rep. Don Bacon was one of the 13 House Republicans who has drawn fire for voting for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, but he told Newsmax Thursday he hopes the Democrats' other bill, for $1.75 trillion to fund President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda "falls apart and dies a quick death."
"Folks don't realize there's so much misinformation on the bill that we voted on last week," the Nebraska Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "People were trying to attach these two bills together, but in reality, a vote for the hard infrastructure removed the leverage that the 'Squad' had on this bill."
Bacon and other Republicans voting for the infrastructure bill were slammed by former President Donald Trump, who said they should be "ashamed of themselves."
The congressman, though, defended his vote and said he believes the infrastructure bill is good legislation.
"It was always half Republicans who wrote this bill from the beginning," said Bacon. "The Senate took it and they had to massage it to get 60 votes, which they did."
Nineteen Senate Republicans, including Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., who Bacon described as "one of my best friends" voted for the infrastructure bill, he pointed out.
"Frankly, our party should have demanded an immediate vote," said Bacon, adding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] and progressives held the bill "hostage" because of the "far-left" reconciliation bill they were trying to pass.
But spending on infrastructure must happen if the United States is to compete, said Bacon.
"This bill was popular in my district," he continued, noting that industries in Nebraska support the infrastructure bill but not the spending measure.
Bacon also dismissed complaints that the infrastructure bill doesn't fund infrastructure.
"The electrical vehicle jacks," he said. "I wouldn't have put that in there. There was $7 billion for that, right? Under the definition of infrastructure, it is all infrastructure."
Bacon also explained that $650 billion of the bill was just for reauthorization of the current transportation bill, not new spending.
"The remainder of $550 billion was the new spending and all of it went to various infrastructure priorities, of which I probably supported 80% of it or 90% of it," said Bacon. "But it was a compromise that you've got to give and take."
But he stressed that as far as the spending bill, "I absolutely oppose it," said Bacon.
Biden and Democrat Sens. Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders are "trying to transform America into a giant welfare state" through the measure, he said, and "I hope they never do get it."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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