[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S4084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             INFRASTRUCTURE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on one final matter, while the Senate 
maintains the serious approach that builds bipartisan successes like 
the CARES Act and the Great American Outdoors Act, the House Democrats 
appear addicted to pointless political theater.
  Well, our absentee neighbors have finally arrived back in the 
Capitol, and they have wasted no time resuming old tricks. The Speaker 
has chosen to spend the House's time this week on a multithousand-page 
cousin of the Green New Deal masquerading as a highway bill.
  You don't have to take my word for it; the chair of the House 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said so. He said: ``This is 
the application of the principles of the Green New Deal.'' And he is 
right, because here are the four pillars of the Green New Deal: No. 1, 
spend an insane amount of money; No. 2, check every far-left 
ideological box; No. 3, propose bad policies; and No. 4, forget about 
making law from the very beginning so you can legislate in a world of 
pure fantasy--pure fantasy. Check, check, check, and check.
  This so-called infrastructure bill would siphon billions in funding 
from actual infrastructure to funnel into climate change policy. By 
putting a huge thumb on the scale for mass transit and electric 
vehicles, it revises the old Obama-Biden focus on disproportionately 
helping major metro areas, leaving less for the rest of our country. No 
wonder it came out of committee in the House on a purely bipartisan 
vote. No wonder the White House declared it not a serious proposal and 
made it clear this will never become law.
  Naturally, this nonsense is not going anywhere in the Senate. It will 
just join the list of absurd House proposals that were only drawn up to 
show fealty to the radical left. Here in the Senate, we will keep at 
the serious work of our Nation.

                          ____________________