Republicans slam Biden’s infrastructure plan

Last week, President Joe Biden released a multibillion-dollar infrastructure plan. Republicans have been very critical of the president’s proposal.
“Biden’s $ 2.3 trillion ‘infrastructure’ plan is nothing more than a repackaged Green New Deal,” Congressman Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, said on social media. “Less than 6% of this proposal goes to roads and bridges, and even less to airports and waterways.”
“The vast majority of that money would be spent on destroying right to work laws, supporting corrupt unions and subsidizing green energy projects at your expense,” Carl explained. “Biden’s plan is to raise taxes and increase debt, while killing American jobs. This is outright false. ”
“In all my time in public policy with the think tank and my short time in Congress, I never saw a transportation and infrastructure bill come out of Congress. who was not bipartisan until now, ”Congressman Gary Palmer, R-AL06, told the radio show Jeff Poor. “And that’s entirely because the Republicans were left out of the process – and not just on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. It got out of the transport and infrastructure committee and then went through the rules and they added another trillion dollars to it. Without any Republican contribution. ”
“It will probably be twice as expensive, at least, and will be largely dictated by the Green New Deal ideas that Democrats have been pushing,” Palmer explained. “I think it will not be good for the future of the country. And in terms of cost, I anticipate energy taxes as they continue their all-out assault on fossil fuels.
Palmer warned that energy taxes would take a toll on the U.S. economy, as every industry and aspect of daily life would be affected by rising energy costs. Palmer expressed concern that raising fuel taxes would be particularly difficult for low-income American workers.
“Biden’s infrastructure plan is about everything but infrastructure,” said Perry O. Hooper Jr., a Republican insider and former Trump loyalist state representative. bridges, highways, roads and main streets “$ 25 billion on airports and $ 17 billion on inland waterways, coastal ports, land entry points and ferries”. The rest is a combination of the Green New Deal and a host of federal social programs that have nothing to do with infrastructure. These programs include 300 billion for housing, 400 billion for care for the elderly and disabled. The additional spending also includes 400 billion in “clean energy credits” to promote wind and solar. All of these programs individually receive much more than roads and bridges. “
“To pay for these programs, Biden is incredibly delivering the biggest tax hikes in our country’s history as we come out of COVID lockdowns,” Hooper said. “These tax hikes include the return of the death tax for the middle class and the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. This rate is among the highest in the world. It is even higher than China’s 25% rate. We are deliberately crippling our ability to attract global investment into our economy and strongly encourage multinational companies to move their headquarters abroad. ”
“It seems President Biden has an insatiable appetite to spend more money and raise people’s taxes,” said Steve Scalise, Republican representative for the whip of Louisiana.
“The tax hikes will dampen the great economy that President Trump created,” warned Sen. Tim Scott of R-Florida.
“When people think of infrastructure, they think of roads, bridges, ports and airports. It’s a very small part of what they call an infrastructure package, ”Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri told ABC. “The remaining 70% or so of the package – it has little to do with infrastructure.”
“The results of these programs will be a throwback to the stagnation of the 1970s brought on by Jimmy Carter’s disastrous policies,” Hooper said. “High inflation will kill the consumer, extremely high interest rates will destroy small businesses, and low economic growth will prevent minorities and other low-income people from finding better lives. Republicans in the House and Senate must do everything in their power to prevent this disaster from passing.
Although Biden has proposed massive tax hikes to pay for his jobs and infrastructure bill, the bulk of the package will likely be paid off with an increase in deficit spending raising the national debt, which already exceeds $ 28 billion.