Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg said on Sunday that the claim of rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a $ 10 billion infrastructure spending package is a ‘natural’ part of the debate over President Biden’s $ 2 trillion plus spending proposal.
ABC’s host George Stephanopoulos’ ‘This Week’ has asked Buttigieg to respond to progressives such as Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., who believes Biden’s’ American Jobs Plan ‘is not brave enough.
Buttigieg said both sides of the aisle objected to its price and scope, and that the differences were a “natural part” of the conversation.
Buttigieg then said the massive proposal was the ‘largest investment in American job creation’ since World War II, calling it a ‘giant deal’. He claims that the spending plan will replace or improve 10,000 bridges, provide broadband to all Americans and create 19 million jobs.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) steps up the stairs to the House on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Thursday, March 11, 2021. The liberal member of the House of Representatives has called for trillions more spending than President Biden proposes in his “American Jobs Plan.” (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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AOC SLAMS BODE’S $ 2.2T INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE: ‘NOT NAME’
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Biden’s infrastructure proposal last week, saying it ‘needs to get a lot bigger’. During a recent appearance on MSNBC, Ocasio-Cortez told host Rachel Maddow that the House should “absolutely” increase the scope of the package before sending it to the Senate.
‘If we could wave a magic wand and call progressive people in the house any number and get it through – which of course is not the case, but if we look at ideals … we’re talking about this, realistically, $ 10 billion in ten years, ‘said Ocasio-Cortez.
REPUBLICAN SENATORS AGAINST THE REQUIRED MASSIVE $ 2T EXPENDITURE BILL: ‘ACHIEVED’ FROM INFRASTRUCTURE
Republican senators loudly voice their opposition to Biden’s proposal, including moderate Republicans who have tried to work with the Biden government on the coronavirus stimulus bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Last week expressed concern that Biden’s proposal would add trillions to national debt. He also said it addresses much more than infrastructure, despite the White House selling it as an infrastructure plan.
On this January 21, 2021 file photo, Pete Buttigieg, nominated Secretary of Transportation, speaks at a confirmation hearing of the Senate’s trade, science and transportation on Capitol Hill in Washington. Buttigieg is one of the leading secretaries of the Biden cabinet selling the president’s “American Jobs Plan”. (Stefani Reynolds / Pool via AP)
“It contains comprehensive far-left priorities such as the attack on Americans’ right-to-work protection, a huge favor for large labor bosses,” McConnell said.
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Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the $ 2 trillion plan “is actually just the Green New Deal lite which is an infrastructure plan.”
Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a moderate, said the Biden administration plan redefines infrastructure to include hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on priorities such as health care, staff development and research and development.