If there’s one thing Republicans love more than obstructing progress, it’s obstructing progress while taking credit for the goodies that flow from the thing they tried to obstruct. Every Democrat-proposed infrastructure bill is a communist, Marxist takeover of America—until their district gets the cash, which immediately transforms into the wholesome fruit of their hard work, grit, and rugged individualism.
And in the case of Republicans like Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, that’s true even—you may say especially—if she voted against the infrastructure legislation that opened the money spigot in the first place. Boebert, whose career highlights include allegedly groping her date during a family-friendly showing of “Beetlejuice” and, well, pretty much nothing else, also likes to pretend to be a responsible lawmaker in her spare time. So you get tweets like the following, in which she’s rather conspicuously shown with her hand in Uncle Sam’s pants.
RELATED STORY: The ‘vote no and take the dough’ House GOP rides again
Just get a gander at this nonsense:
Yeah. Uh-huh. The only problem? The law she’s talking about is one she voted against and referred to as a “monstrosity.”
Business Insider:
Boebert was among 40 House Republicans who voted on March 6 against the so-called "minibus" — which funds vast swaths of the federal government — despite having secured federal funding for their districts.
The congresswoman argued at the time that the bill, a compromise package hammered out between Democrats and Republicans, was a "monstrosity" that "funds the Green New Deal."
[...]
It's a version of what critics — most famously, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — dub "vote no take the dough." It's become especially common in recent years, with Republicans celebrating the flow of federal dollars into their states even when they opposed the passage of the bills that spurred it.
This is nothing new for Boebert, of course. She previously begged Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for $33 million in federal bridge funds after calling Biden’s infrastructure bill “wasteful” and “garbage.” It’s also old hat for dozens of other congressional Republicans, who love to complain about government pork but are frequently the first in line for the trough.
For instance, there’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville, whose brain is essentially a Texas Instruments calculator permanently stuck on “BOOB.” He may not know what the three branches of government are, but he knows enough to brag about all the cool shit his constituents are getting from the feds—no thanks to him.
Thank you, Xwitter readers, for adding context. Yes, indeed, Sen. Tuberville voted against the bill that is providing this funding.
And then there was Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who touted a $25 million transit allocation from a bill she called a “fiasco” and “absurd.” In fact, the specific appropriation she bragged about came from a program she’d previously derided as an example of socialism.
And boy, Republicans sure do love President Biden’s infrastructure initiatives—when the checks arrive, that is.
The Washington Post, July 9, 2023:
Some of the sharpest critics of the infrastructure law, meanwhile, rejoiced when the Transportation Department unveiled the recipients of roughly $2.2 billion to help rehabilitate roads and bridges in late June. The beneficiaries included two highway improvement projects in Arkansas, which received about $50 million, drawing public praise from Republican Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton.
“I’m pleased Senator Boozman and I were able to secure the grants for these projects,” Cotton said in a joint statement last month.
Two years earlier, though, the duo had joined 28 other Senate Republicans in voting against the infrastructure law — which allowed the government to spend up to $1.2 trillion. Explaining his stance at the time, Cotton said Arkansans “do not want President Biden’s ‘social infrastructure’ and climate alarmism, especially under the threat of increased inflation and higher taxes.”
And an October 2022 CNN story trotted out even more examples of Republican hypocrisy on the issue. CNN singled out House Members Tom Emmer, Ashley Hinson, Paul Gosar, and others who wrote letters to the feds asking for money after trashing the infrastructure initiatives that provided those funds.
While some Republican members who opposed the law have already been criticized for praising projects made possible by it, these letters went a step further, going out of their way to argue for even more spending back home.
All typed out on the standard blue and white letterhead for the House and Senate, the letters are full of the graciousness and politesse of official government correspondence, and make no mention of their votes against the infrastructure law.
None cite “socialism” or “radical spending.” No one included a paragraph about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy calling the law “rushed and irresponsible,” or Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene calling the Republicans who voted for it “traitors.” Often, the letters signed by members of the House and Senate appeal using the same terms that they derided Democrats for using, from “economic growth” to “sustainability” benefits.
Of course, none of this has escaped the notice of President Biden and his administration. Biden has consistently called out the GOP hypocrites who insist infrastructure spending is communism until it benefits their states. At one point he stated, with more than a dollop of sarcasm: “I see them out there, ‘And now we’re going to build this new bridge here, we’re all for it. And by the way, this new road, and we’re going to have an internet that’s going to be all the way.’ I love them, man. They ain’t got no shame.”
Of course, Trump, who never came close to passing an infrastructure bill, even though there was wide agreement that we needed one, eventually did take action on the issue. When he was no longer president, he tried his utmost to sabotage Biden’s infrastructure plan. Why? Either he really does want the American economy to tank, or Biden’s plan irresponsibly omitted key GDP-boosting tax breaks for burying your ex-wife in your yard.
Either way, his stance was selfish and hypocritical. Much like the Republican Party itself.
RELATED STORY: Lauren Boebert: The ‘uniparty’ is trying to ‘rig the election’ against me
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link.
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