Planes, Trains, & Green New Deal

After weeks of deliberation, ten Republican Senators* came to an agreement with Democrats on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The 2,702-page bill was not seen by the public, and likely most Senators, until Sunday, two days after the Senate voted to advance it to the floor. Not only did many Republican Senators make seedy deals behind closed doors, but they are also defending a bill saturated with leftist extremism. 

The INVEST in America Act (H.R. 3684) passed the House along party lines early in July. It was filled with President Joe Biden’s made-up “human infrastructure” policies that included critical race theory training, Green New Deal policies, a Medicare expansion, universal pre-K, and subsidized childcare on the American taxpayers’ dime.  Fortunately, Senate Republicans stripped many of these “woke” policies out and added more real infrastructure that would be covered from leftover emergency funds. At least, that’s what they are messaging on.

We all know that the devil is in the details of these bipartisan bills. In reality, only $110 billion goes toward true infrastructure. Much of this amount is tied up in earmarks including $1 trillion to the “Appalachian Regional Commission,” a program that was likely used to persuade Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) to vote for the bill. 

The rest of the $1.09 trillion is spent frivolously on ways to advance leftist ideology. Democrats’ new buzzword, “equity,” is written 64 times throughout the bill. They try to “fix” racism and gender discrimination by forcing equal opportunity mandates and biased trainings. Construction workers, bus drivers, and train conductors cannot simply do their jobs anymore. They will be forced to attend these brainwashing sessions and may even be replaced to meet a racist and sexist quota.

Despite the Los Angeles Times’ criticism that the climate change provisions in the infrastructure bill “falls short,” an entire section is dedicated to the cause. This section appropriates $7.5 billion for electric charging stations, $10 billion to help bees along highways, encourages young children to walk up to two miles to school, and establishes a pathway toward taxing Americans every mile driven. The Senate Republicans who are pushing this through are being compliant with dangerous policies while never pleasing either side. 

Fortunately, some Republican Senators are fighting against this bill, one being Senator Mike Lee (R-UT).  His Pay Less, Build More amendment replaced the text of infrastructure bill with policies that would limit the bill to infrastructure-only provisions, relieve debt that has already been incurred from past infrastructure spending, lower federal gas taxes, and empower state and local entities to craft their own infrastructure plans among other measures. These fiscally conservative policies would allow the American people to have a say in their communities as well as provide relief to their bank accounts. The left’s coercion was too strong though and the amendment failed 78-20. 

The Senate will likely vote on the infrastructure package before the week ends. Democrats may use the budget reconciliation process to add back in the provisions that were removed and include amnesty measures that would worsen the border crisis. Eagle Forum has drafted an alert on this matter. Please visit EagleForum.org to send your Senators an email asking they oppose the passage of the infrastructure bill.