On Tuesday, War on the Swamp reported on a vote in the House to advance a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package, known as the Move Forward Act. On Wednesday, the bill, now known as the INVEST in America Act, officially passed the House by a vote of 233-188. Just like the vote Tuesday to advance the bill, the vote was mostly partisan, although three Republicans -- Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey -- broke ranks to vote with most Democrats to pass the bill. On Tuesday, four Democrats -- Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Ben McAdams of Utah, and Stephanie Murphy of Florida -- voted with the Republicans against enabling debate on the bill, although three of them voted Wednesday with the majority of their caucus to pass it; McAdams still voted against it, along with Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN). As previously mentioned, McAdams has taken tens of thousands of dollars from the oil and gas industry, which is important because, as Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill states, it is the Democrats' "biggest legislative effort to fight climate change." Additionally, Peterson has taken $13,500 from oil and gas PACs this election cycle.
Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, hours before the bill's passage in the House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declared that the Senate would not take up the package, calling it a "thousand-page cousin of the Green New Deal, masquerading as a highway bill," and claiming that the "so-called infrastructure bill would siphon billions in funding from actual infrastructure to follow into climate change policies." It should be clear as to why McConnell is opposed to green infrastructure spending; he is the third-largest recipient of oil and gas money this election cycle, out of all candidates, and has taken $163,500 in PAC money from them. In addition, as Tanya Snyder of Yahoo! News reports:
"A slew of industry groups, which customarily 'applaud' and 'commend' Congress for just about any action taken on infrastructure, have specifically slammed the House bill. The Chamber of Commerce said it 'would move further away from real and meaningful investments in our failing infrastructure.'"
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has contributed $10,000 in PAC money, as well as $15,800 in lobbyist money -- namely from Neil Bradley ($5,000), Suzanne Clark ($4,500), Andrew Siff ($3,100), Robert L. Livingston ($1,200), William E. Moschella ($1,000), and Jen Olson ($1,000) -- to the majority leader this election cycle. In short, the money he has received is a decent indicator as to why he refuses to bring the bill to a floor vote in the Senate, let alone why he opposes it.
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