WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) released the following statement after the Majority Leader announced that an agreement had been reached to hold a final vote on the infrastructure package at 11 AM Tuesday—five days later than the Majority Leader had planned and several hours beyond when the vote should have occurred under regular order. Hagerty’s refusal to expedite the vote likewise delayed consideration and forced Democrats’ to reveal their budget resolution—the vehicle for their unprecedented $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending spree:
“The American public deserves to have the Senate—the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body—actually deliberate. Because of my refusal to expedite passage of this bill, we did that and allowed taxpayers to see that this infrastructure package is the first step in the Democrats’ quadruple bank-shot attempt to usher in a radical vision for America, burdening our children and grandchildren with more debt and making American citizens dependent on the government for virtually everything. While I recognize that I delayed the August recess, the stakes are too high here, and we have successfully begun to expose the true and dangerous intentions of my Democrat colleagues.”
BACKGROUND:
On Thursday night, several members of the Senate attempted to reach an agreement to vote on several amendments followed immediately by final passage, but Hagerty objected, citing the recently released CBO score and the importance of ensuring that the bill received full scrutiny and consideration under the normal rules.
The Senate was then forced to follow regular order, holding a cloture vote on Saturday and another on Sunday.
Again, some members of the Senate attempted to reach another agreement on amendment votes followed by an accelerated final passage. Hagerty, who was clear he wanted the Senate to vote on amendments, refused to consent to moving to final passage any sooner than regular order allows.
Hagerty exposed Democrats’ true intentions on Sunday for expediting final passage when he proposed that the Senate vote on 17 amendments, noting that he had no objection to voting on as many amendments as desired. Yet, Hagerty was immediately met by a Democrat objection as they refused to allow votes on amendments, revealing that Democrats were, in fact, blocking consideration of amendments to this legislation.
Because of Hagerty’s efforts, this bill was not expedited and was instead voted on under regular order, the American people and his fellow Senators learned more about what’s truly in it, as well as how it is inextricably linked to Democrats’ tax-and-spend spree.