Eighteen Republican senators voted on Sunday in support of the Biden administration’s so-called “bipartisan” $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to move the legislation forward for full Senate approval, which passed on Tuesday, CNBC reports.
Breitbart News listed the names of the GOP senators involved: Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Richard Burr (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), John Hoeven (R-ND), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Deb Fischer (R-NE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Mike Crapo (R-ID).
Wicker was the one new addition to the previous 17 senators.
“The bill we’re now debating is far from perfect. If I were the only one with a pen, I would have made many changes. But at the end of the day, I believe this package will do a great service for the United States of America and a great service to my home state of Mississippi,” Wicker said, according to the report.
Opposing senators
Other Republican senators stood up to oppose the leftist effort. Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran (R) shared his remarks in a Twitter post on Monday.
This afternoon, I spoke on the Senate floor regarding my intent to oppose the infrastructure bill. pic.twitter.com/suQJAYmSkR
— Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) August 9, 2021
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) tweeted: “Democrats are using their multi-trillion dollar packages as gateways to their socialist agenda. The price? Your freedom and billions of taxpayer dollars.”
True intentions?
Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty (R) spoke Monday on Fox News about what he believes are the true intentions of Biden’s infrastructure bill.
Spoke with @SteveDoocy on @FoxNews this morning about why I refused to expedite the Senate infrastructure bill and the Democrats’ true intentions of speeding up the process–to light the fuse on a reckless $3.5 trillion debt bomb that’s right around the corner. pic.twitter.com/SQF60HQtYL
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) August 10, 2021
Trump threatens primaries
Former President Donald Trump slammed the group of Republican senators who voted in favor of passing the bill, adding the threat of backing primary challengers to those involved who are up for reelection next year.
“Don’t do it Republicans — Patriots will never forget!” the former president’s statement read. “If this deal happens, lots of primaries will be coming your way!”
Only time will tell if Trump holds true to his threat, but if we’ve learned anything about Trump in the past five years, it’s that he’s certainly not the type of politician who bluffs.