Smith Floor Remarks on Infrastructure Bill: "The math simply does not add up"

As Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Madam Speaker. Republicans and Democrats agree: we need to invest in infrastructure. But today when our nation is running historically high deficits, when Democrats want to add trillions of dollars to our debt, and inflation is nearly the highest it has been in 40 years, we need to ensure these investments are paid for. When it comes to this bill, the math simply does not add up. We are told this bill has $589 billion in offsets. In reality, the CBO score shows just $180 billion in offsets – a $400 billion shortfall. This bill does not pay for itself – not even close. The fact is – for House Democrats – this bill was never about infrastructure. The Speaker has had weeks to vote on it. Instead, she has turned a bipartisan negotiation into a hostage negotiation. In exchange for fixing our roads, bridges, highways, and dams, House Democrats are demanding Congress pass the most expensive piece of legislation in history, along with the largest tax increase ever. And unlike the infrastructure bill which has a CBO score, less than one percent, ONE PERCENT, of their $4.3 trillion spending and tax plan has been scored by CBO. Republicans will not be bullied into paying a ransom to fix our infrastructure.