Americans want "real hard infrastructure legislation," which is included in the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and do not want the "socialist, reckless spending bill" that Democrats are pushing as its companion legislation, Sen. Dan Sullivan said Saturday on Newsmax.
"We are not a country that believes in cradle-to-grave socialism," the Alaska Republican said on Newsmax's "America Right Now."
"What we need to be focused on right now, and what we are focused on right now in the Senate is killing this incredible spending spree that the Democrats are undertaking."
The vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill is set for this coming week in the House, but it may be on shaky ground because progressives don't want the legislation unless President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion spending bill gets passed with it.
Sullivan told Newsmax that his state is "resource-rich but infrastructure-poor," and the infrastructure bill has features like money for roads and "very significant loan guarantees" to get the Alaska natural gas project, work on broadband and airports, and more.
But the $3.5 trillion "socialist spending blowout" that the Democrats are pushing is a different matter, said Sullivan.
The massive spending bill has a great amount of the Green New Deal included, he added, and that has the "potential to permanently change our great nation. I think most Americans fundamentally disagree with that, and I think the Democrats are in a bind right now because they're seeing how unpopular that is."
Meanwhile, Republicans have an energy, jobs, and environmental plan that would "continue the success we had under the Trump administration and that would help the economy while reducing global gas emissions.
"Do you want to really help the world in terms of reducing those kinds of emissions? You need to export clean-burning Alaska natural gas, American natural gas all over the world and benefit from our critical minerals," said Sullivan. "We want to create more jobs with regard to our energy. The Democrats, as you know, have a completely different plan. They are literally looking right now and doing this, which is shutting down American energy production in my state, certainly shutting down American pipelines."
Further, the Democrats' plans are "empowering our adversaries," said Sullivan.
"The Russians, the Saudis, certainly the Iranians all love it when John Kerry is going around the world, saying America is going to reduce our production of American energy," he said.
"The Green New Deal makes no sense. We're seeing huge spikes in energy prices across the country. Just look at California. It almost has $5 gas. This hurts Americans. It hurts working families."
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, FUBO and major OTT platforms like Roku, YouTube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizio and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.