Dave McCormick to Repeal Infrastructure Bill if Elected

TL/DR –

Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund manager and a Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, has stated that he would vote to repeal President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill. McCormick’s opposition to the infrastructure bill could expose him to political criticism from Democrats, who might portray him as a hardline conservative out of sync with voters in a swing state. The infrastructure bill was passed by Congress in August 2021 with the support of 19 Republican senators and 13 Republican House members.

Senate Candidate Dave McCormick Would Vote to Repeal Biden’s Infrastructure Bill

Dave McCormick, former hedge fund manager and Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, stated in mid-November that he would vote to repeal President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill. McCormick made his position clear during an interview on the pro-Trump radio show, The John Fredericks Show.

The wealthy candidate voiced his strategy for cutting spending once in Senate, stating that with a Republican majority in both houses and a Republican president, all “expensive Biden bills” including the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better would be rolled back to tackle inflation.

McCormick is striving to unseat Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in November. A win for McCormick could secure a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate during a challenging cycle for Democrats.

But McCormick’s resistance to the infrastructure bill could open him up to political attacks from Democrats, with his stance likely to be portrayed as overly conservative and disconnected from the general sentiment in the closely contested state of Pennsylvania. McCormick’s claim that the Build Back Better bill became law is incorrect; a significantly scaled-down bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, did pass.

The infrastructure bill was approved in Congress in August 2021, backed by 19 Republican senators and 13 Republican House members.

McCormick’s campaign has defended the candidate’s views, referring to a Kimberly Strassel column in The Wall Street Journal that reported less than 25% of the bill’s spending went towards traditional infrastructure.

While acknowledging Pennsylvania’s infrastructure needs improvement, McCormick’s campaign stated that 77% of the infrastructure bill that Casey approved went to fund the Democrats’ climate projects, instead of actual infrastructure improvements. The campaign argues this contributes to a mounting financial burden on taxpayers amid historic inflation rates.

An op-ed by Strassel, based on a July 2021 analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, claimed the bill dedicated just $127 billion of its $548 billion in new spending on traditional infrastructure. The final version of the infrastructure bill created $566 billion in new spending.

However, many conservatives, including McCormick and Strassel, are critical of the bill’s investments in electric vehicles, environmental resilience, public transit, and a greener electrical infrastructure, which they do not consider traditional infrastructure.

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