House Democrats Shatter Bipartisan Norms to Pass Infrastructure Legislation

Last Wednesday, the House passed H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, better entitled the "My Way or the Highway Act".  While infrastructure is normally bipartisan, this bill was written behind closed doors, and with no input from Republicans.  This bill was so partisan, it only received three Republican votes, a sharp break from the last infrastructure legislation that was passed in 2015 when Republicans controlled the House.  That bill passed unanimously out of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and then passed the full House with 371 votes, including 180 Democrats.

The difference between that bill and H.R. 2 is striking.  The last surface transportation bill focused on improving our infrastructure to meet the challenges of the 21st century.  H.R. 2 abandons those improvements to focus instead on the imposition of the economy-destroying Green New Deal.  Under this bill, $2 out of every $5 goes to Green New Deal goals, as either new programs or as costly new green requirements for existing programs.

This is not serious legislation.  This is a political messaging bill that was written by liberal special interest groups.  It is heavily biased against rural America, and reduces funding for our roads and bridges, despite years of Democrat rhetoric about crumbling infrastructure.  With the Green New Deal provisions in the bill, it reads more like an embrace of Nancy Pelosi's climate change radicals than a bill that will become law.