Maria Bartiromo on infrastructure, spending bills: 'Honesty in Washington' needed
FOX Business anchor Maria Bartiromo weighs in on the Senate passing the $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the cost of the spending bill on Fox News Radio's 'The Brian Kilmeade Show,' warning that U.S. debt and inflation will 'soar.'
FOX Business anchor Maria Bartiromo warned on Fox News Radio's "The Brian Kilmeade Show" on Wednesday that U.S. debt and inflation will "soar" due to Democrat-led spending bills.
Bartiromo made the comment one day after the Senate passed a major $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill in a significant show of bipartisan force that marked a big step forward for President Biden’s domestic agenda.
The vote was 69-30, with 19 Republicans – including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – joining all Democrats to approve major investments to the nation's roads, bridges, railways and more.
Bartiromo provided insight as the July consumer price index showed inflation is already present with prices jumping 5.4% annually, matching June's reading for the fastest increase since August 2008.
"I think that the Republicans got rolled over once again by the Democrats," she told host Brian Kilmeade regarding the Senate passage of the infrastructure spending bill. She pointed to information from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which determined the legislation wouldn't be fully paid for – as authors had originally said –and would directly add more than $340 billion to the deficit and cost nearly $400 billion when including indirect effects from a higher transportation spending baseline, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The CBO determined the legislation would add $256 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years.
"The fact that they [Republicans] agreed and rolled over for this infrastructure plan without having even an acknowledgment from the Biden administration and from their Democrat colleagues that we have a massive crisis at the border is really devastating," Bartiromo said. "I mean, it's disgusting."
SENATE ADVANCES $1.2T INFRASTRUCTURE BILL; REPUBLICAN SENATOR CRAMER DEFENDS ‘CRITICAL’ SPENDING
"I'm not impressed with these 19 Republicans doing this for the one reason just to be able to say, ‘Oh, we can work together,'" she added. "How about the Democrats being able to say, ‘We could work together. We understand there's a crisis at the border and we want to address it.’"
The final passage vote of the infrastructure bill was a culmination of a months-long rocky effort between a group of bipartisan senators and the White House intent on showing the country that Republicans and Democrats can still work together to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure.
But the rare showing of bipartisanship was short-lived Tuesday, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quickly pivoted to advancing a massive $3.5 trillion budget bill. Minutes after the infrastructure bill success, Schumer immediately called a procedural vote to begin debate on the Democrats' budget plan, which passed along party lines 50-49.
This partisan budget proposal will be the vehicle for Democrats to pass liberal priorities such as universal pre-kindergarten, expanded Medicare access, two free years of community college, subsidized child care, legalizing undocumented immigrants, and green climate initiatives.
This second spending plan is spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the chairman of the budget committee. Republicans made clear Tuesday they'll make it politically painful for Democrats to pass this second bill, which will not require any GOP support under a process called budget reconciliation.
Bartiromo told Kilmeade on Wednesday that "honesty in Washington" is needed on the price tag of the spending bill.
"The actual cost of this new legislation is ultimately going to depend heavily on details that have yet to be revealed," she warned.
Bartiromo pointed to estimates from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which warned that the cost of the spending bill will be "far more than the $3.5 trillion advertised."
The committee estimates the policies under consideration "could cost between $5 trillion and $5.5 trillion over a decade, assuming they are made permanent."
"In order to fit these proposals within a $3.5 trillion budget target, lawmakers apparently intend to have some policies expire before the end of the ten-year budget window, using this oft-criticized budget gimmick to hide their true cost," the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget noted.
Bartiromo then added that the budget blueprint is "actually going to be much more expensive than $3.5 trillion" and that will, in turn, cause U.S. debt and inflation to "soar."
The final passage of the second $3.5 trillion budget blueprint in the Senate in the coming days is critical because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she won't allow a standalone vote on the more narrow $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal unless it's paired with the bigger package that liberals have demanded.
Pelosi has the slimmest of majorities in the House, with 220 Democrats to 212 Republicans and three vacancies.
A group of moderate Democrats has urged Pelosi to hold a vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill while raising alarms about the size of the $3.5 trillion bill that they say could fuel inflation. Meanwhile, progressives led by the so-called Squad have dismissed the bipartisan plan and insisted their votes are contingent on the passage of the $3.5 trillion package, which would be funded through new tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations.
"I think this is mafia-like tactics," Bartiromo said Wednesday. "This is a shakedown."
The $1 trillion bill that passed Tuesday is dubbed the "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" and it allocates spending for roads, bridges, rails, waterways, public transit, power systems, airports, and broadband internet access.
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The House is currently in summer recess but is expected to take up infrastructure after members return to Washington later in August.
Fox News’ Marisa Schultz and FOX Business’ Jonathan Garber contributed to this report.
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