FREEHOLD, NJ – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden were about to have an incredibly terrible day on Friday after the President’s latest incarnation of his Build Back Better agenda had failed to gather enough support to put it to a vote.
Instead, Pelosi, a master politician managed to get the Democrat’s ‘bi-partisan’ infrastructure bill pushed through to save the day…and she did.
The infrastructure bill has a price tag of $1.2 trillion.
“Tonight, I proudly signed the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and sent it to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. This bill delivers a once-in-a-century investment in our infrastructure, creates good-paying jobs and takes a crucial step to Build Back Better For The People,” Pelosi said of the historic spending bill.
Pelosi did it with the help of rogue Democrat Joe Manchin and eleven other Republicans, including New Jersey’s only two GOP congressmen, Chris Smith and former Democrat Jeff Van Drew.
In June, Van Drew strongly opposed the infrastructure bill, saying it will make energy and goods and services more expensive for the American people. He has not stated why he reversed course.
At the time, he said,” “This bill increases the costs of American energy. This bill makes everyday goods and services more expensive. This bill keeps the United States dependent on supply chains based on Chinese slave labor. This bill fails to address the core reasons that it is so difficult and expensive to build infrastructure in this country, to the extent that it provides money for traditional infrastructure at all.”
In total, 13 Republicans voted yes and 6 Democrats voted no in the 228-206 vote Friday night.
Here’s what’s in the bill:
- $110 billion for actual infrastructure work on bridges and roads.
- $40 billion for bridge repair.
- $11 billion for transportation safety.
- $1 billion to ‘reconnect’ communities of color.
- $85 billion to upgrade America’s rail system.
- $65 billion broadband upgrade.
- $17 billion in port upgrades.
- $25 billion in airport upgrades.
- $7.5 billion in funding for electric vehicles.
- $7.5 billion to build a network to charge those vehicles.
- $21 billion for environmental cleanup.
In New Jersey, the bill could finally fund the long-delayed Gateway Tunnel between New Jersey and New York City.
Joseph Rullo a former New Jersey candidate for governor who lives in Van Drew’s district criticized the former Democrat.
“Shame on our two Republican congressmen Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew voting for President Biden 1.7 Trillion dollar infrastructure bill after President Trump warned them not to vote for the wasteful spending bill,” Rullo said.
