excalibur
Diamond Member
- Mar 19, 2015
- 18,147
- 34,367
- 2,290
And the MSM is where? The MSM clearly is the enemy of Liberty, clearly un-American, clearly interested solely in being propagandists for the Democratic Party.
Republican lawmakers sounded the alarm on Wednesday over the White House attempts to strong-arm state and local governments into spending infrastructure money on progressive pet initiatives.
They accused Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of crafting new byzantine rules and regulations governing how money from President Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package can be spent. The directives reflect Mr. Biden’s political interests, instead of those laid out by lawmakers within the infrastructure bill.
“It is becoming clearer that they are less concerned about properly implementing this infrastructure law and more focused on shoehorning it into their woke agenda,” said Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Republicans point to guidelines set in December by the Federal Highway Administration. The agency urged state and local governments to prioritize infrastructure money for climate-resilient projects such as public transit and bike paths.
“We’re working to implement these investments … with a focus on making our nation’s roads safer, our transportation systems cleaner, more accessible and more resilient to climate impact,” Mr. Buttigieg told lawmakers during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
Republicans contend that the administration is using bureaucratic red tape to push its progressive agenda to the detriment of rural and suburban communities. That’s not what was spelled out in the legislation, which Republicans say they helped pass in good faith.
“We debated these policies. We debated them with the House and the Senate, as each chamber developed its respective proposals,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Republican. “These policies were ultimately rejected and not included in the final legislation sent to the president’s desk.”
The Federal Highway Administration is veering from the language in the legislation by pushing for state and local governments to spend infrastructure money on repairing existing roads and highways, instead of constructing new ones.
Democrats had initially sought to include a “fix-it-first” mandate within the bill, but that was nixed during negotiations with Republicans. The final version of the bill gives states flexibility on whether they choose to upgrade existing roads and highways or build new ones.
In some instances, the new guidelines being issued by federal agencies on how infrastructure money should be spent are “lifted” directly from legislative language that failed to make it into the final bill.
“I’ve said many times this is a bipartisan bill, it was a product of careful negotiations,” said Mrs. Capito, the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee “I’m really troubled that a memo coming from [the Transportation] Department has language in it that was rejected … basically verbatim.”
...
www.washingtontimes.com
Republican lawmakers sounded the alarm on Wednesday over the White House attempts to strong-arm state and local governments into spending infrastructure money on progressive pet initiatives.
They accused Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of crafting new byzantine rules and regulations governing how money from President Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package can be spent. The directives reflect Mr. Biden’s political interests, instead of those laid out by lawmakers within the infrastructure bill.
“It is becoming clearer that they are less concerned about properly implementing this infrastructure law and more focused on shoehorning it into their woke agenda,” said Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Republicans point to guidelines set in December by the Federal Highway Administration. The agency urged state and local governments to prioritize infrastructure money for climate-resilient projects such as public transit and bike paths.
“We’re working to implement these investments … with a focus on making our nation’s roads safer, our transportation systems cleaner, more accessible and more resilient to climate impact,” Mr. Buttigieg told lawmakers during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
Republicans contend that the administration is using bureaucratic red tape to push its progressive agenda to the detriment of rural and suburban communities. That’s not what was spelled out in the legislation, which Republicans say they helped pass in good faith.
“We debated these policies. We debated them with the House and the Senate, as each chamber developed its respective proposals,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Republican. “These policies were ultimately rejected and not included in the final legislation sent to the president’s desk.”
The Federal Highway Administration is veering from the language in the legislation by pushing for state and local governments to spend infrastructure money on repairing existing roads and highways, instead of constructing new ones.
Democrats had initially sought to include a “fix-it-first” mandate within the bill, but that was nixed during negotiations with Republicans. The final version of the bill gives states flexibility on whether they choose to upgrade existing roads and highways or build new ones.
In some instances, the new guidelines being issued by federal agencies on how infrastructure money should be spent are “lifted” directly from legislative language that failed to make it into the final bill.
“I’ve said many times this is a bipartisan bill, it was a product of careful negotiations,” said Mrs. Capito, the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee “I’m really troubled that a memo coming from [the Transportation] Department has language in it that was rejected … basically verbatim.”
...
GOP accuses White House of diverting infrastructure funding to ‘woke’ agenda
Republican lawmakers sounded the alarm on Wednesday over the White House attempts to strong-arm state and local governments into spending infrastructure money on progressive pet initiatives.
www.washingtontimes.com
