Trump bashes Senate Republicans, McConnell over infrastructure bill

Former President Trump on Sunday doubled down on his criticism of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Senate Republicans who voted in favor of passing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

“All Republicans who voted for Democrat longevity should be ashamed of themselves, in particular Mitch McConnell, for granting a two month stay which allowed the Democrats time to work things out at our Country’s, and the Republican Party’s, expense!” Trump said in a statement.

The former president called Republican lawmakers who voted in favor of the bill “RINOs” — a widely used term he favors that means “Republicans in name only.” Trump suggested that Democrats would take advantage of Republicans by enlisting their support to pass their $1.75 trillion social spending bill.

“How about all of those Republican Senators that voted thinking that helping the Democrats is such a wonderful thing to do, so politically correct. They just don’t get it!” Trump said.

On Friday, House Democrats finally managed to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill by a 228-206 tally to send a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to President Biden’s desk. Three Democratic caucuses negotiated a deal that also passed a procedural rule that would tee up a future vote on Democrats’ social spending bill. 

Trump’s targeting of Senate Republicans comes after the chamber passed the infrastructure bill in a 69-30 vote that included 19 GOP senators, including McConnell.

The House vote also included the support of 13 Republicans but not six progressive Democrats. 

Hours before the Senate was poised to vote on ending debate on the infrastructure bill in August, Trump again bashed McConnell and other Republican lawmakers for supporting the bill. Trump also said that he could use their support of the legislation as a weapon for future endorsements.

“Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill is a disgrace,” Trump wrote at the time. “If Mitch McConnell was smart, which we’ve seen no evidence of, he would use the debt ceiling card to negotiate a good infrastructure package.”