House GOP members who voted for infrastructure bill face backlash from Republican colleagues
- 13 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote for the Democratic infrastructure bill.
- Six Democrats – AOC, Pressley, Bowman, Omar, Tlaib, Bush – voted against it.
WASHINGTON – The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that the House approved late Friday passed with the help of several Republicans, who faced a swift backlash Saturday from their GOP colleagues.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York was one of 13 Republicans who voted for the bipartisan bill, which passed 228-206, with some progressive Democrats voting against it.
“After months of being held hostage by Progressive Democrats, the House was finally able to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill,” Garbarino said on Twitter. “Make no mistake, tonight’s vote was about roads, bridges, and clean water. It was about real people, and the tangible actions Congress could take to better their lives by rebuilding and revitalizing our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.”
The measure is one of President Joe Biden's key domestic priorities. On Saturday, he called passage of the bill “a monumental step forward as a nation.”
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But the GOP members faced harsh criticism afterward for supporting the bill, including from fellow Republican members. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., called her colleagues “RINOS" – Republicans in name only.
“RINOS just passed this wasteful $1.2 trillion dollar ‘infrastructure’ bill,” Boebert tweeted late Friday night. “Pelosi did not have the votes in her party to pass this garbage. Time to name names and hold these fake republicans accountable.”
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Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., added to the backlash, calling colleagues who voted for the bill “spineless” on Twitter.
“Only 3 days after voters rejected Biden's failed policies in deep blue VA & NJ, 13 spineless 'Republicans' decided to tag-team with Democrats and helped pass their $5 TRILLION socialist takeover of our country,” Miller tweeted.
Others chimed in as well.
"I can't believe Republicans just gave the Democrats their socialism bill," Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., tweeted.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tweeted that the Republicans who voted with Democrats "handed over their voting cards" to Pelosi to pass Biden's "Communist takeover of America via so-called infrastructure."
But Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who voted with Democrats Friday, hit back at Greene.
"Infrastructure = communism is a new one. Eisenhower’s interstate system should be torn up or else the commies will be able to conveniently drive! Red Dawn in real life," Kinzinger tweeted.
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Reps. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David B. McKinley of West Virginia, Fred Upton of Michigan, Tom Reed of New York, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Don Young of Alaska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and John Katko of New York were the other Republicans who voted for the measure.
Six House Democrats – Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – voted against the bill. They had sought assurances that moderate Democrats would back Biden’s $1.85 trillion Build Back Better budget bill before voting on the infrastructure bill.
The infrastructure package allocates funding to modernize highways, rebuild water lines and billions for electric vehicle charging stations – making it the largest transportation spending package in U.S. history.
