The $715 billion transportation infrastructure and green energy measure passed by the House on Thursday did not have the support of Oklahoma Representatives.
All five voted against the measure which passed 221 to 201 with all Democrats and two Republicans supporting the INVEST in America Act.
Rep. Markwayne Mullin issued a statement following the vote saying for Pelosi Democrats, it continues to be their way or the highway.
“This roughly $715 billion package is a disaster for the American people. It does nothing to streamline infrastructure projects, ties up one out of every two dollars in Green New Deal mandates, and leaves rural America further behind. Partisan packages like this show that they are more interested in forcing their socialist agenda on the American people than investing in our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.”
Democrats now intend to use the bill to negotiate a larger deal with the Senate and the White House reported the Washington Examiner.
The bill dedicates $343 billion to upgrading the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges, it provides $109 billion for transit, and $95 billion to passenger and freight rail. The measure would spend nearly $170 billion on water infrastructure projects.
The measure includes new policy directives aimed at reducing fossil fuel use. One provision would require municipalities to first repair existing roads and bridges that need work before dedicating funding to building new ones.
Most House Republicans voted against the bill. They argued Democrats wrote it without their input, although the measure includes GOP earmarks.
Rep. Garret Graves, who is the top Republican on the Transportation and Infrastructure panel, argued Democrats produced a partisan bill that cannot pass the Senate, where bipartisan compromise is needed to avoid a filibuster.
Graves, of Louisiana, said the measure “ties the hands of states that need to build roads and new capacity, even if that is their most critical need.”
The measure increases the size of the federal government by adding 41 new federal transportation programs, Graves added.
Republicans also oppose massive spending on climate change.
Graves said the bill spends half of all federal dollars on “the Green New Deal agenda” and wastes money by lifting a ban on spending money to decorate transit stations with artwork.
Source: Washington Examiner