Congressman Bacon: Don't Link Infrastructure, Spending Bill in House Vote

Aug. 12, 2021, 2:15 p.m. ·

Congressman Don Bacon at a podium
Congressman Don Bacon. (Photo courtesy of Don Bacon)

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Now that the Senate has passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, it will soon be up to the House to weigh-in on the measure. Republican Congressman Don Bacon has mixed feelings about the bill, which would help fix hard infrastructure things like roads and bridges and would also improve broadband internet coverage and public transit. Bacon said there’s probably more good than bad in the bill.

“I think it’s a mixed bag, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “It wouldn’t be the bill that I would write. I think in the end our country is looking for hard infrastructure. We need work on our roads, our bridges, our seaports, airports, our railroads. We need new locks. Our locks on the Mississippi are 90 years old and our agriculture trade is very dependent on that.”

Bacon doesn’t want to have to approve both the new infrastructure bill and a proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill at the same time. He said the country can’t afford both right now.

“We want a stand-alone bill. We want the hard infrastructure bill and we don’t want the $3.5 trillion bill at all,” Bacon said. “That’s the view of the Republicans and I’d also say it’s also the view of many of the moderate Democrats I’ve talked to, that we want to de-link them and keep those things a mile apart and hopefully the $3.5 trillion will just die on the vine.”

He said the Omaha area could be in line for about $2.5 billion in funding under the infrastructure bill.