Senator John Kennedy Says T-Dollar Biparty Infrastructure Bill is Filled with ‘Dumb Stuff’

Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) Called the $ 1,000 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill “stupid stuff” on Monday night, hours before the Senate’s final adoption vote.

Kennedy told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that he would likely vote “yes” on the package until he received a copy of the 2,700-page measure.

“I realized pretty quickly that if you look up ‘stupid stuff’ in the dictionary, there’s a photo of this bill,” Kennedy said. “They told us it was a real infrastructure bill. It’s not; only 23 percent of the bill is for real infrastructure, the rest is the Green New Deal and welfare. They told us the bill was paid; it is not, we may have to borrow up to $ 400 billion to pay it off. They told us there was no tax increase. There are; my state is going to have to pay $ 1.3 billion in new taxes on our petrochemical industry.

“They told us… that the Democrats are really suspicious of this bill and that if we pass it it would be more difficult for them to pass their $ 5,000 billion in taxes and spending, the bill. of reconciliation, ”Kennedy added. “Well, if that’s true, how come all Democrats voted for this infrastructure bill? And finally, they told us it wasn’t going to increase inflation, but it will. “

Despite complaints from Kennedy and other Republican senators, the upper house is on track to pass the bill Tuesday morning and send it to the House, where President Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Has vowed to hold it until Senate Democrats pass a larger $ 3.5 trillion Budget Resolution on their own, without GOP support. The Senate is expected to begin debate on the measure once it drops the bipartisan bill on Tuesday.

After a first false start last month, the $ 1 trillion bill erased every test vote with as many as 66 votes, paving the way for a simple majority vote to secure final passage.

“I don’t know why he was adopted with over 60 votes,” Kennedy told host Laura Ingraham, before adding, “I don’t know, a day of drinking maybe?”

At the heart of the bill is a proposal to spend $ 550 billion on roads, bridges, broadband Internet, water pipes and other public works systems. Opposition among conservative Republicans hardened last week after the Congressional Budget Office forecast it would add $ 256 billion to the federal deficit over the next ten years.

Republican members of the bipartisan Senate negotiating team, which included Kennedy’s compatriot Louisiana, Bill Cassidy, argued that the CBO’s projection, or “score,” failed to take into account certain sources of revenue, including future economic growth.