06.24.21

Democrats Pull the Rug Out from Under Bipartisan Infrastructure Negotiators with “Unserious Demands”

‘Less than two hours after publicly commending our colleagues and endorsing the bipartisan agreement, the President took the extraordinary step of threatening to veto it. It was a tale of two press conferences -- endorse the agreement in one breath and threaten to veto it in the next.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding infrastructure:

“Earlier today, a bipartisan group of infrastructure negotiators took the results of their efforts to President Biden.

“It was an encouraging sign of progress after leading Democrats had gone out of their way to slow the process.

“Remember: At first sign of an agreement last night and then again this morning, both the Democratic Leader and the Speaker of the House made it clear they would hold the bipartisan agreement hostage, demanding trillions of dollars in wasteful spending and job-killing tax increases in return for even considering it.

“The two top Democrats literally pulled the rug out from under their bipartisan negotiators with these unserious demands before they’d even made it to the White House.

“So President Biden’s show of support earlier today appeared to be a major breakthrough for earning Democrats’ support.

“But that optimism was short-lived.

“Less than two hours after publicly commending our colleagues and endorsing the bipartisan agreement, the President took the extraordinary step of threatening to veto it.

“It was a tale of two press conferences -- endorse the agreement in one breath and threaten to veto it in the next. 

“Less than two hours. It almost makes your head spin.  An expression of bipartisanship, and then an ultimatum on behalf of your left-wing base. 

“Now, I have no doubt that the President is under enormous pressure from some on the Left to deliver on a laundry list of radical climate demands.

“The Democratic Leader and the Speaker have already made clear they’ll do whatever it takes to keep their runaway spending train chugging along this summer.

“And more and more members of their party are having to contort their positions to keep pace with the expectations of the Green New Deal fringe.

“But caving completely in less than two hours?

“That’s not the way to show you’re serious about getting a bipartisan outcome.

“So I hope our colleagues can recover and get their good-faith efforts back on track.”

Related Issues: Infrastructure, Senate Democrats