The House passes a transportation part of the puzzle….
House GOPer’s may not have voted for the bill….
But they WILL be able to crow about its… benefits back home….
Biden and the Democrats continue their march to go ‘BIG’.….
The House on Thursday passed a $715 billion proposal to fund transportation and water projects that’s meant to shape parts of the broader infrastructure package — a top priority of President Biden — currently under discussion in the Senate and White House.
Lawmakers passed the legislation largely along party lines in a 221-201 vote with just two Republicans voting for the package.
Democrats hailed it as a monumental shift toward more sustainable infrastructure projects, and Republicans warning of lost jobs and a skyrocketing federal debt….
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As the Senate and White House grapple over the particulars of their fragile agreement — a plan that has not yet been drafted into legislation — House Democrats are battling to ensure that some of their priorities find their way into whatever final product emerges from the talks.
“This bill is designed to be a part of the President’s jobs bill. It is not a substitute for the jobs bill,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) emphasized this week.
Democrats are hoping to use the legislation passed on Thursday to make it easier to include some of their priorities in the bipartisan package that’s still being negotiated….
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Most Republicans voted against the bill, even though it included funding for specific projects — known colloquially as earmarks — that many had requested for their districts.
The legislation includes funding for 403 projects requested by House GOP lawmakers, out of a combined 1,473 projects between the two parties.
Yet Republicans opposed the legislation on the grounds that it was overly partisan and costly.
“Voting for this bill is an implicit endorsement of the Speaker’s overall strategy to ram through a $6 trillion tax-and-spend plan,” said Rep. Sam Graves (Mo.), the top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee….