Cracks appear in Republican barrier to infrastructure as GOP senator calls it 'pure stupidity'
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appears to be losing his grip on his Republican caucus as the vote nears for the infrastructure package.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) told reporters he doesn't understand why the bill has become so political when it clearly isn't, reported Forbes.
Cassidy was one of the senators who worked across the aisle with Democrats to get support for the bill that Republicans have now come out against. A whopping 19 Republicans voted to support the bill when the Senate voted, and now Cassidy says he "cannot understand" why the House Republicans are pushing their members against it. He called it "pure stupidity."
"It's not because of the policy," Cassidy said of the House GOP's opposition. He explained that it's already been supported by pro-business and conservative groups like the Chamber of Commerce. "If you do it strictly on the merits, on the policy and the positive things it does for the United States of America, then you vote 'yes.' If you've got other considerations, aside from what's good… for America, then you vote 'no.'"
Fellow Louisiana Republican, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, said the infrastructure bill is "inextricably linked" with a massive social spending package that Democrats are trying to shove through without Republicans. But Cassidy noted it's a separate bill and "a separate vote, isn't it? I don't know any other way to describe de-linkage."
They are two different bills because Republicans don't support the bill that makes the child tax credit permanent, supports paid family leave, free community college classes and other key programs that President Joe Biden calls "human infrastructure."
House Speaker told the Democratic caucus on Monday that they can't wait for the human infrastructure bill to pass both chambers before voting on the hard infrastructure bill, Forbes said, citing a source.
"When they say they're linked, I don't know how you say that when they're two separate votes," Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said, agreeing with Cassidy that he and his colleagues can "vote 'no' on one and 'yes' on the other."
Other Republicans have questioned how their party can be so against a bill that is clearly non-partisan.
"If Republicans can't support this, if Democrats can't support this, what is it that we can support?" she said.
Read the full report from Forbes.
In other news Tuesday, former President Donald Trump's attempts to silence former "Apprentice" contestant and White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman have ended in failure. Her lawyer suggests that more dirt on Trump may be coming. WATCH:
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