Senator Blackburn and Colleagues: Infrastructure Package Isn’t Paid For; We Won’t Support Increases to Federal Debt
August 4, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) released the following statement regarding the insufficient pay-fors in the 2,700 page, $1.2 trillion "infrastructure" bill:
“We can’t spend money we don’t have. Period. Just look at what is happening with inflation. We were promised this infrastructure bill was fully paid for, and now we see that it’s not. This was nothing more than a bait and switch. $205 billion of this bill was to be paid for with re-purposed COVID funds. The latest proposal only shows $50 billion in COVID funds being used, as well as a lot of the proposed ‘pay-fors’ missing. So we are asking our colleagues: how is this infrastructure spending bill being paid for? We still don’t know. We still don’t have a score on this legislation from the Congressional Budget Office. Let’s not forget, this is just the first step in the Democrats’ plan to pass their $5.5 trillion tax and spend liberal wish list. We support infrastructure, but it has to be paid for. This proposal isn’t it.”