Biden’s trillion-dollar roads bill is a disgrace, says Trump
DONALD TRUMP has said it would be very hard for him to endorse “anyone foolish enough” to vote in favour of the $1trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, in a thinly veiled threat to Republican lawmakers up for election next year.
The former president said the plan to fund the nation’s biggest investment in roads and bridges in decades was “a disgrace” and said it was a “gift to the Democrat Party”.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican negotiator on the bill, said as many as 18 members of his party have indicated that they will support it, which would ensure its eventual passage and could come as early as today.
Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate Republican leader, has so far allowed the bill to progress, despite broadsides from the former president.
Mr Trump said: “If Mitch Mcconnell was smart, which we’ve seen no evidence of, he would use the debt ceiling card to negotiate a good infrastructure package.”
Politicians have spent the past week processing nearly two dozen amendments to the 2,700-page package, but so far none has substantially changed its framework.
Senators have found common ground in the bill, even though it does not fully satisfy liberals, who view it as too small, or conservatives, who find it too large.
It would provide federal money for projects many states and cities could not afford on their own and could create around 650,000 jobs, according to an estimate by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
The Senate is split 50-50 between Republican and Democrat senators, with Kamala Harris, the vice-president, having a deciding vote.
However, for a bipartisan bill to pass, 60 votes are needed.
“Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill will be used against the Republican Party in the upcoming elections in 2022 and 2024,” said Mr Trump.
“It will be very hard for me to endorse anyone foolish enough to vote in favour of this deal.”
Mr Trump’s power as kingmaker has been put to the test already in Ohio. His preferred candidate, Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist, beat a crowded field to win the Republican nomination to stand for a Congressional seat.