If the United States Senate votes this week on the bipartisan so-called “infrastructure” bill, it would be humanly impossible for any U.S. senator to read it before voting on it.
The text of a draft of the bill, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News from U.S. Senate sources not authorized to leak it, shows the plan is 2,701 pages long.
The text, which Breitbart News is publishing here so the public can see what Congress is doing in secret, shows the plan is far more sprawling and expansive than GOP senators, who backed advancing it without text even existing, led their constituents to believe.
Sources familiar with the drafting of the text of this bill told Breitbart News it was being written in secret for months outside the normal legislative process, which is supposed to happen in relevant committees of jurisdiction. These sources made the unauthorized leak of the draft text to Breitbart News out of concern that the murky and secretive process behind this bill may have led to widespread corruption throughout its nearly three thousand pages.
Here is a picture of the finished 2,700-page legislation printed out:
What’s taking so long? Romney told me that they are correcting all the “its and ats.”
Schumer was supposed to come to the floor around 2:15 with what was expected to be the final update. We are still waiting. https://t.co/Rrbk3KZIdP
— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) August 1, 2021
The bipartisan infrastructure bill contains many provisions that would aim to revitalize America’s roads, bridges, and highways, as well as climate change carveouts, including funding for “zero-emission vehicles.”
Notably, the bill contains a large carveout for an “Alaska Highway” that would likely benefit Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
The bill also contains funding for “high priority corridors on the national highway system,” including the United States route 421 from the interchange with Interstate Route 85 in Greensboro, North Carolina, to the interchange in Interstate 95 in Dunn, North Carolina.
The provision appears to benefit Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Richard Burr’s (R-NC) home state of North Carolina. Burr and Tillis were lead Republican negotiators on the bipartisan bill.
The over 2,000-page bill also contains provisions that would help Sen. Bill Cassidy’s state of Louisiana, who is also a lead GOP negotiator on the bipartisan bill.
The bill grants funding to a high priority corridor that goes through Louisiana:
The South Mississippi Corridor from the Louisiana and Mississippi border near Natchez, Mississippi, to Gulfport, Mississippi, shall generally follow—‘‘(A) United States Route 84 from the Louisiana border at the Mississippi River passing in the vicinity of Natchez, Brookhaven, Monticello, Prentiss, and Collins, Mississippi, to the logical terminus with Interstate Route 59 in the vicinity of Laurel, Mississippi, and continuing on Interstate Route 59 south to the vicinity of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.”
Louisiana is also one of the 12 states that shall receive annual funds through the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force.
Section 11523 addresses “over-the-road bus tolling equity,” to which if:
(T)he Secretary determines that a public authority described in clause (i) has not complied with this paragraph, the Secretary may require the public authority to discontinue collecting tolls until an agreement with the Secretary is reached to achieve compliance.
The bill also contains a state-mandated carbon reduction program on page 332:
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021, a State, in consultation with any metropolitan planning organization designated within the State, shall develop a carbon reduction strategy in accordance with this subsection.
The bill also requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to conduct a study on the enhanced unemployment benefits that came from the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill, also known as the American Rescue Plan.
The legislation also requires the Secretary of Energy to conduct a study on the projected job losses and impacts from the Biden administration’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said infrastructure would be finished “in a matter of days.” Now that the Senate advanced the legislative vehicle for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Senate could focus this upcoming week on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said he expects the August recess to be shortened so the House can come back to work on the infrastructure bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she will bring the bipartisan bill for a vote unless it also comes with the $3.5 trillion reconciliation infrastructure bill.
UPDATE 9:45 p.m. ET: Senate proponents of the proposal released the final text of the legislation late Sunday evening after this Breitbart News publication, and the final bill text is almost exactly the same as the near-final draft provided to Breitbart News as an unauthorized leak from Congress earlier in the evening. The final bill is only one page longer at 2,702 pages.
This is a developing story. More is forthcoming.
Story cited here.
