The Infrastructure Deal Stinks Like a Dead Fish; Infrastructure Debate Devolves into Chaos; Senators Trade Accusations of Double-Crossing

The infrastructure deal stinks like a dead fish:

Provisions of the bill haven’t even been thoroughly debated

This week, the United States Senate will debate, vote on amendments, and perhaps vote on final passage on “infrastructure” legislation that will spend at least $1.2 trillion of taxpayer money. Even though the actual legislative text – the bill itself – had not been shared with Senators and their staff this weekend.

Moreover, the legislation is the product of negotiation among fewer than ten Senators. Senators and staff with expertise in the areas addressed by the legislation were, for the most part, intentionally cut out of the negotiations, and the committees of jurisdiction have been entirely ignored.

The last two decades in Congress have seen a steady migration of power to leadership at the expense of ordinary members of Congress and the committees in which they spend most of their working time. The result is fundamentally anti-democratic legislation like Obamacare, or, in this instance, the “infrastructure” deal.

These legislative abominations all have the same look and feel. The (mostly) secret closed-door negotiations. The announcement of the inevitable last-minute deal followed by propaganda-ridden press releases. Incoherent and sometimes misleading facts sheets that are so fuzzy as to be worthless. Thousands of pages of legislative text hastily written, edited, and presented to Members minutes before the voting process starts.

There is always an insistence on the need to pass the legislation immediately, without time for anyone – advocates, the media, the voting public – even to digest, let alone reflect upon or debate the provisions of the legislation.

There are never any hearings. Never any open debate in any forum in which Members may develop arguments against the legislation. Never any votes in subcommittees or committees. Never any exposure to meaningful questioning by staff, Members, the media, or those in the public who might know something about the issues at hand. —>READ MORE HERE

Infrastructure debate devolves into chaos; senators trade accusations of double-crossing:

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Friday was forced to delay a vote to begin debate on President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package as pandemonium broke out in the usually austere upper chamber.

Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, had to referee lawmakers who accused one another of a double-cross with the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

The Senate eventually approved the motion in a 66-28 vote, but it only came after an intense back and forth across the aisle.

Most notably, Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, Washington Democrat, threatened to derail the deal over broadband internet funding. She raised concerns that the deal steered too much money to rural areas over urban communities.

“They need to do more on affordability,” said Mrs. Cantwell, pushing for a focus on underserved urban communities rather than “rural issues.” —>READ MORE HERE

Follow link below to a related story:

The Pathetic Republican Surrender

Source