Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" - Transcript: Interview with Jim Banks
Interview
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All right. Joining me now, Congressman Jim Banks, chair of the Republican Study Committee, who earlier today blasted this infrastructure bill in a memo to his members.
Congressman, look, you got 17 GOP senators, you got Mitch McConnell, you have Romney Portman. All these guys who have been in the Senate for a long time. They're very well respected in the business community. Why was Senator Kennedy wrong?
REP. JIM BANKS (R-IN): Well, Laura, this bill is twice as long as the Bible. I can guarantee you. There's not a senator that read the Bible cover to cover over the last 24 hours.
INGRAHAM: Now, Senator Cassidy said he read it.
(CROSSTALK)
INGRAHAM: Congressman, Senator Cassidy said he read it with his staff.
BANKS: It's hard for me to believe that anyone read the Bible cover to cover. They definitely didn't read this bill cover to cover as well. I have a lot of concerns about as I laid out in the Republicans Study Committee memo that we released to our members just a little bit ago. But my biggest concern is this, Laura, do the math with me go, back to January when we passed - when they passed the $1.9 trillion so-called COVID Relief Bill. And look today at what that has done to inflation in our country. The highest rates of inflation since 1991.
Now, do the math with this, a $1 trillion infrastructure deal and $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that Nancy Pelosi says the infrastructure bill will not pass her house without the reconciliation bill passing with it. And imagine what that will do to inflation in this country. You're already paying more for a gallon of milk. Every time you pump up a gas, or fill up your gas tank at the gas pump, you're going to pay twice as much when these guys are done with it. And that's my biggest concern about what's about to happen on these guys' watch.
INGRAHAM: Well, the polling on this is interesting. The White House, I don't blame them for doing this. They're out there sending out memos, and oh the people support it. And voters do generally support an idea of bipartisan infrastructure. Again, Trump was pushing a version of this. "A majority of voters are concerned about the sheer size of the proposals. Together, the infrastructure bill and the spending plan would run the country $4.7 trillion, 55 percent of voters say that's too much, 64 percent oppose a federal tax hike to pay for this"
Now, I think, Congressman, we know that the infrastructure bill, that doesn't include a tax increase, obviously, the follow on bill, which Senator Cassidy thinks is less likely to pass, I do not understand that. He said - that's obviously does include a tax increase for people over $400,000. So what does this tell you? What the selective polling showcasing the White House is doing?
BANKS: Yes. It's like Donald Trump told us. In fact, he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. And this is a bad deal. Donald Trump understood this for four years trying to pass an infrastructure deal. This is a bad deal that's in front of us.
And you're right, the tax increases and everything else that comes with the almost $110 billion out of this $1 trillion deal will go toward roads and bridges and what anybody in America would define or consider is infrastructure. So that's it. That's a drop in the bucket. That's not going to be popular with the American people when they understand at the end of the day that they've been fooled by both sides of the aisle.
INGRAHAM: Congressman, we appreciate it. They all should have gone to the voters next year taking it to the voters don't get Biden the big win on this. Congressman, thank you.
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