US Representative Gary Palmer (AL-06) is touting the recently signed infrastructure bill because it will help fund a beltway in his district. His office released a statement on the bill, which I have provided in its entirety below:
The newly passed infrastructure bill, signed into law by President Biden, includes legislation introduced by Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06) and Congressman David Trone (MD-06) that will provide critical funding to help complete the Northern Beltline. The provision in the infrastructure bill was inserted from the Finish the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) Act and would provide $1.25 billion for construction of incomplete sections of the ADHS. More specifically, Alabama will receive $369 million over the next five years for construction of the Northern Beltline, Alabama’s only ADHS project that has yet to be completed. Congressman Palmer released the following statement:
“Funding the Northern Beltline has consistently been one of my top priorities,” Palmer said. “Birmingham is currently one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country without a complete beltline around it. Completing the Northern Beltline will benefit the entire region and enhance economic development and employment opportunities.
“The Appalachian Regional Commission has noted the completion will have an annual economic impact exceeding $2 billion in 10 years and has the potential to create 14,000 jobs,” Palmer concluded. “This is the opportunity we have been working for as a region and a state. Now is the time for us to take advantage of it and complete the work by finishing the Northern Beltline and building a better future for the Birmingham metro area and central Alabama.”
Well, sure, everyone likes more roads, right?
As AL.com reported about a week ago:
Plagued by a series of false starts since construction began seven years ago, the Birmingham Northern Beltline project has been revived with $360 million in funding earmarked in the bipartisan infrastructure package that passed Congress on Friday.
Work began on the 52-mile, six-lane corridor stretching from Interstate 59 in northeast Jefferson County to the I-459 interchange with I-59/20 near Bessemer in 2014, but construction was halted in 2016 after funding dried up.
The problem is, Palmer voted against the package, although he, in fact, did introduce the portion of the legislation for his district.
Also from Al.com:
The new injection of funding was placed into the infrastructure package by Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Vestavia Hills, who ironically voted against the bill, saying it contained wasteful spending.
Indeed, as the American Independent notes:
When the bill passed on Nov. 6, Palmer tweeted, “The Democrats’ recklessly expensive infrastructure bill finally passed tonight after weeks of disarray among their caucus.”
Look, is it possible to like certain aspects of a bill but still oppose the whole thing? Sure. But since the only way all the great things mentioned in the press release were going to happen was if this specific bill passed, one can’t help but be struck by the utter hypocrisy of it all.
Now, that a politician would seek to take advantage of both voting against a bill and still taking credit for good things in it is hardly a shock. Indeed, on one level this is about and congressy (that’s the technical term) thing as one can imagine.
However, the behavior of many of Campbell’s co-partisans makes this situation a bit harder to stomach, in at least two ways.
The first is a look back to 2017-2019, during which time the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House, and “infrastructure week” never materialized. In other words, the Republicans in government at the time showed no real interest in addressing the infrastructural needs of the country. To me, this was a shirking of basic responsibility (not to mention politically a missed opportunity). More to the point, it struck me as part of the ongoing evidence of the lack of interest the GOP has in governance.
The second is the way some members of the party have reacted to their fellow Republicans who voted for the bill. Back to the American Independent:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had been saying since long before the vote on the bill that she would help fund primary challenges against any Republicans who voted in favor of it. Afterward, she made public the phone numbers of Republicans who had voted in favor and defended the move as they started to receive threats: “The calls will continue and primaries will ensue. Republicans in the House and the Senate need to learn a lesson.”
Those among the 13 who say they have received threats include Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who shared on CNN a voicemail he’d received that said, “I hope you f—king die, I hope your family f—king dies, I hope everyone in your f—king staff dies.”
Politico reported that one of the 13 lawmakers who voted for the bill was getting so many angry calls that they redirected them to Greene’s office.
Former President Donald Trump has also vowed to endorse primary challengers against them. On Nov. 15, he endorsed John Gibbs, a challenger to Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) with a history of making offensive comments against Muslims, LGBTQ people, and others and promoting QAnon and other conspiracy theories.
This is, to put it bluntly, not healthy behavior for the party, nor for American politics.
Even this week, Mitch McConnell is defending his vote for the bill under pressure from party activists and Trump.
