Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday excoriated Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as “overrated” over the Kentucky Republican’s support of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that is poised to clear the upper chamber Tuesday.
Trump, who has criticized the bipartisan plan for weeks, this weekend called for McConnell to push for a better bill while denigrating the legislation as a “disgrace.”
Shortly before the final Senate vote, the former president was unrelenting in his criticism of the bill and McConnell.
“Nobody will ever understand why Mitch McConnell allowed this non-infrastructure bill to be passed,” Trump said in a statement. “He has given up all of his leverage for the big whopper of a bill that will follow. I have quietly said for years that Mitch McConnell is the most overrated man in politics now I don’t have to be quiet anymore.”
He added: “He is working so hard to give Biden a victory, now they’ll go for the big one, including the biggest tax increases in the history of our Country.”
Trump pledged to pass a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan while in the White House promoting it as “the biggest and boldest infrastructure investment in American history” but failed to get it through Congress.
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The $1.2 trillion legislation, which was negotiated between the White House and a bipartisan group of senators, received the support of 18 Republican senators in weekend votes to advance the bill, making its final passage appear likely.
GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a key negotiator for the bipartisan package, tried to get the former president onboard to support the bill, but that effort has so far been unsuccessful.
“I would hope that the president at the end will be supportive,” Portman told reporters late last month. “I’m going to try to keep him informed of what we’re doing because I think it’s important that we continue to have this be bipartisan. It’s not a victory for one party or the other, in my view. It’s a victory for the American people.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Monday said that after the upper chamber passes the bipartisan bill, it would “immediately” turn to the Democratic-led $3.5 trillion “human” infrastructure package, which would fund priorities focused on childcare, clean energy, and higher education, among other measures.
The larger infrastructure package would be passed through the reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority and can skirt filibuster rules that mandate a 60-vote threshold to cut off debate.
