WASHINGTON—Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-02) released the following statement after voting against Speaker Pelosi’s infrastructure bill, which focuses more on implementing policies from the Green New Deal than rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure.
“Our infrastructure is in desperate need of investment, but H.R. 2 leaves rural America in the dust,” Mullin said. “Rather than focusing on rebuilding our roads, bridges and waterways, Pelosi Democrats are using this bill to try to force their Green New Deal policies on the American people. They have made it clear through huge increases for public transit their priority is big cities, not rural communities. Time and again, Pelosi Democrats have chosen their socialist agenda over making real progress and that’s what we saw again today with this bill.”
At a cost of $1.5 trillion, H.R. 2 is an expensive 46 percent increase since the last surface transportation bill. These increases focus on Green New Deal climate goals, with $2 out of every $5 going toward green initiatives, and large increases for transit and passenger rail funding, which do not benefit most Oklahomans. Only $250 million out of the $1.5 trillion bill would go toward a new “Rebuild Rural” grant program, while a new program to build charging stations for electric vehicles would receive seven times more funding at $1.75 billion. Estimates have shown in order to pay for the bill, it would require doubling the gas tax from 18.3 cents per gallon to 36.6 cents per gallon.
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