Meet the 13 Republicans Who Voted for Biden’s Massive Spending Bill

By
David Rufful
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OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.

Thirteen Republicans pushed the bill through despite opposition from progressive members of the House, Fox News reports.

The House of Representatives voted 228-206to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

This would not have passed without the support of 13 Republicans. Six Democrats refused to support the bill.

Here are the GOP members who sided with Democrats:

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska “Bacon has represented Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District since 2017. Bacon told Axios that he faced a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t choice with the bill, telling the outlet he did what he felt was right when he voted for it.”

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania “Fitzpatrick represents Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District, which includes all of Bucks County and a portion of Montgomery County.”

Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia “McKinley, who has represented West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District since 2011, issued a statement about his infrastructure vote Friday, writing in part, ‘Tonight, instead of playing politics, I put America and West Virginia first.'”

Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York

Rep. John Katko of New York

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York

Rep. Tom Reed of New York

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois

Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith of New Jersey

Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan

Rep. Don Young of Alaska

Some parts of the Democrats’ ambitious spending plans completely collapsed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced this disaster for Democrats after emerging from her office.

Despite months of negotiations, Pelosi was forced to concede she doesn’t have the votes to pass Joe Biden’s full agenda.

The clash occurred between so-called “moderate” Democrats and socialists or “radical” Democrats. “In other words, things have collapsed,” Townhall’s Katie Pavlich explains.

“The left is threatening to vote down the infrastructure bill, which was passed earlier this summer by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate,” Pavlich continues.

“The House version of the spending bill, which hasn’t been scored by the Congressional Budget Office but currently sits at $1.75 trillion, is far too expensive to pass in the Senate.”

Watch the clip of Pelosi:

Democrats have bickered for months over the ambitious spending plans.

As a result, Democrats set aside some differences and passed only some of Biden’s domestic agenda.

Progressives and centrists in the Democrat party passed a $1 trillion package of highway, broadband and other infrastructure improvements.

The bill will go to Biden’s desk to sign into law.

More from Reuters:

Biden’s administration will now oversee the biggest upgrade of America’s roads, railways and other transportation infrastructure in a generation, which he has promised will create jobs and boost U.S. competitiveness.

Democrats still have much work to do on the second pillar of Biden’s domestic program: a sweeping expansion of the social safety net and programs to fight climate change. At a price tag of $1.75 trillion, that package would be the biggest expansion of the U.S. safety net since the 1960s, but the party has struggled to unite behind it.

Democratic leaders had hoped to pass both bills out of the House on Friday, but postponed action after centrists demanded a nonpartisan accounting of its costs – a process that could take weeks.

After hours of closed-door meetings, a group of centrists promised to vote for the bill by Nov. 20 – as long as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that its costs lined up with White House estimates.