Senate passes bipartisan infrastructure deal. Here’s why Burr and Tillis voted yes.
North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis voted for the Senate-passed $1.2-trillion infrastructure package Tuesday morning, casting his support as both an endorsement of the current deal and a bulwark against future Democratic action.
Tillis and fellow North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr were among the 19 Republicans who voted for the package, which passed with the support of all 50 Democrats and the backing of President Joe Biden. It passed 69-30.
After passage of the infrastructure bill, Senate Democrats started the process on a $3.5-billion budget package that they hope to pass through reconciliation, a process that allows for passage with just a majority.
That bill — and the filibuster, which allows the minority in the Senate to stop most controversial legislation — were on Tillis’ mind as he considered the infrastructure bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the packages will be considered together, likely pushing off a House vote on the just-passed infrastructure deal until fall.
“If we pass this out, then that number is going to be lower, and I also believe by demonstrating we’re willing to work with the Democrats that we can preserve the filibuster,” Tillis said during an interview Monday. “If we lose the filibuster in the Senate, there is going to be a long list of things that no Republican could oppose because it just takes a simple majority.”
Tilllis and Burr were among a group of 11 Republicans who worked with a group of 11 Democrats to forge the bipartisan infrastructure plan. He wrote a column last month praising Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat and lead negotiator on the infrastructure package, for her wok on the bill and for her key opposition to getting rid of the filibuster.
The total price tag of the infrastructure bill is more than $1.2 trillion, but about $550 billion is new spending on infrastructure and the rest is already approved funding.
“It’s a $550 billion bill, unlike what’s been reported in the press — $1 trillion-plus. It is predominantly focused on roads, bridges, broadband, public transit, the kinds of things that most Americans believe are true infrastructure,” Tillis said.
What the infrastructure package includes
The infrastructure bill includes, among other items, $109 billion for roads and bridges, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, $65 billion for broadband, $55 billion for water infrastructure, which includes removing lead pipes, $39 billion for public transit, $47 billion for flood and wildfire mitigation and resiliency, weatherization and cybersecurity, $7.5 billion for electric vehicle infrastructure and $21 billion for cleaning polluted sites and other environmental measures.
North Carolina could get more than $9 billion from the package, Tillis said, including money for shoreline resiliency along the state’s oft-battered coast. The state will also get $440 million for its clean water supply.
“We will get desperately needed money to be better prepared for the next big storm,” Tillis said.
He said the COVID pandemic demonstrated the need for reliable broadband internet, which has a lot of “dead spots in the state.” Tillis said he was disappointed the bill does not include a mechanism to capture revenue from the drivers of electric vehicles, who do not pay the gas tax and often receive a tax deduction for purchasing an electric vehicle.
“To me, it’s not the perfect bill, but anytime you have a compromise, you’re going to have to accept some provisions you weren’t necessarily in favor of. But on the whole, this is very sound policy,” Tillis said.
North Carolina would receive about $7.7 billion for roads and bridges, more than $900 million for public transit and more than $109 million for expanding its electric vehicle charging network, according to a state-by-state breakdown from the White House.
“It provides the largest core infrastructure investment in our nation’s history and it does so responsibly – without raising taxes. While no compromise bill is ever perfect, I’m proud to have worked with my Senate colleagues to find common ground on an issue that affects all Americans,” Burr said in a statement after the vote.
“This bill is particularly important for growing states like North Carolina. As more families and businesses call North Carolina home, we have to have the right infrastructure in place to meet the needs of a growing population.”
Budd, McCrory, Walker opposed
The yes votes of Burr and Tillis put them at odds with the majority of Senate Republicans, most House Republicans, former President Donald Trump and the top three Republican candidates running to replace the retiring Burr in the Senate in 2022 — U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, former Gov. Pat McCrory and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker.
“For the Republicans who supported this bill, you showed a lot of courage and I want to personally thank you for that. And I’ve called most of you on the phone to do just that,” Biden said during a speech in the White House East Room hours after Senate passage.
Two Republican senators — Jerry Moran of Kansas and Todd Young of Indiana — who are running for re-election in 2022 voted against the bill after previously signaling support for it. Of the 15 incumbent Republican senators running or still considering running for re-election in 2022, four voted for the bill — Mike Crapo of Idaho, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Hoeven of North Dakota and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
“If you look at it in terms of the merits of the infrastructure bill and the broader context for lowering the amount of spending and taxing that the Democrats are going to do and preserving the filibuster, it makes sense. But if you’re in a primary, it’s hard to describe all of that. And so I respect their decision not to support the bill,” said Tillis, who won a second term in 2020, is not up for re-election until 2026.
“There are many provisions of it that they think are positive, but something that’s very important to me is that they all come back, and if they think that that’s the way that they can better communicate to their constituent base, then I respect them for their decision.”
McClatchyDC White House reporter Bryan Lowry contributed to this report.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 11:57 AM.
