Barrasso likens Biden’s infrastructure plan to ‘addiction to spending’

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said on Sunday that his biggest sticking point when it comes to President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan was “the trillions and trillions of dollars of reckless spending.”

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Barrasso told host Martha Raddatz that Biden’s infrastructure proposal was comparable to “someone with a new credit card.” 

“It’s the trillions and trillions of dollars of reckless spending,” Barrasso told Raddatz when she asked what his biggest sticking point was. “When I look at this, this is a staggering amount of spending, like someone with a new credit card, and these are for things that we don’t necessarily need, we certainly can’t afford, but they’re going to delight the liberal left of the party.”

“It seems to me that this is a cradle-to-grave role of government, whether it’s paying for child care for everyone, college free college for everyone, and ultimately someone’s going to have to pay for this. It’s almost creating an addiction to spending,” Barrasso said.

.@MarthaRaddatz on Pres. Biden’s infrastructure proposal: “What’s the biggest sticking point for you?”

Sen. John Barrasso: “Well, it’s the trillions and trillions of dollars of reckless spending.” https://t.co/xMgrUNKXvR pic.twitter.com/Z4Q5Fo2vlH

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 2, 2021

Barrasso said he was working with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on alternate infrastructure proposals that amounted to closer to $500 billion on what he called “core infrastructure.”

When asked about a new poll that found 67 percent of Republican leaders in Congress were doing too little to compromise with Biden, Barrasso said the president and his administration were ignoring suggestions from GOP lawmakers who have offered pared-down versions of administration proposals such as the coronavirus relief measure earlier this year.

“You know, with coronavirus relief, we did five bipartisan bills, each of which got over 90 votes, and when President Biden came into office, gave the speech about unity on Inauguration Day. Ten Republicans went to the White House to meet with him on another coronavirus package, and we made really good faith efforts,” Barrasso said.

“He ignored all of it. They did this with budget reconciliation by the slimmest margin of votes. Ignored Republicans. We want to work together on this with true infrastructure, and I think there’s a deal to be had,” Barrasso said.

Raddatz replied, “Well, we’ll see if that happens.”