WLBT-TV Jackson
Miss. senators split on historic $1.2T infrastructure package
By Kailynn Johnson
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith found themselves divided on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package.
Sen. Hyde-Smith voted against it, but Wicker helped to pass the legislation.
The U.S. Senate passed the sweeping national infrastructure plan Tuesday. It exceeds $1 trillion.
69 U.S. Senators voted for the bill, 30 voted against the bill, and one member did not vote.
Sen. Hyde-Smith said the legislation had too few assurances that the massive measure is paid for and will not contribute to the nation’s staggering debt.
“Many provisions in this sprawling legislation have merit and would help Mississippi, but voting for it is a bridge too far to cross. We need more infrastructure investment, but I am unconvinced this rushed massive, one-shot bill is the best or most fiscally responsible way to fix roads, bridges, water and wastewater systems, and the electrical grid,” Hyde-Smith said. “This bill is not paid for, increases the deficit, and includes many unfunded intergovernmental and private-sector mandates.”
Sen. Wicker voted to pass the legislation; however, he has called out the $3.5 trillion budget proposal.
“It is important to make this point emphatically: this legislation involving hard infrastructure – which I support – stands in sharp contrast to the Democrats’ forthcoming bill, which will certainly not gain even one Republican vote, and which the 50 Democrats in the Senate and a slim majority in the House hope to pass with only Democrat votes,” Wicker said.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers negotiated for months with the Biden administration to broker a deal to revamp the country’s roads, bridges, highways, waterways, ports, airports, and broadband internet.