Biden plans big bipartisan bill signing; Republican backers face threats
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[November 13, 2021]
By Steve Holland and David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is
planning a big ceremony on Monday for President Joe Biden's signing of
the $1 trillion infrastructure bill Monday with Republican lawmakers,
amid a toxic political climate in the United States.
Officials are considering holding the event on the expansive White House
South Lawn, where the presidential helicopter lands, to accommodate a
large crowd invited to celebrate one of the president's biggest
legislative achievements to date, a person familiar with the planning
said.
The White House said Biden will be joined by lawmakers who helped write
the legislation and "a diverse group of leaders who fought for its
passage across the country, ranging from governors and mayors of both
parties to labor union and business leaders."
The bill was written largely by a core bipartisan group of 10 Senate
lawmakers, led by Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Republican
Senator Rob Portman. The House of Representatives passed the measure
last week with the aid of 13 Republicans.
It is expected to create jobs across the country by giving out billions
of dollars to state and local governments to fix crumbling bridges and
roads, and expanding broadband internet access to million of Americans.
But it was unclear how many Republican lawmakers would attend the
ceremony. Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who
helped co-author the legislation, are planning to attend, according to
aides.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell does not plan to attend the
White House ceremony, saying in an interview this week that he has
"other things I've got to do." But he made clear his unflinching support
for the legislation.
"This bill was basically written in the Senate by a bipartisan group of
Republicans and Democrats – all the House did last week was simply take
up the Senate bill and pass it. This bill was crafted in the Senate, 19
Republicans voted for it, I was one of them, I think it was good for the
country and I’m glad it passed," he told WHAS Radio in Louisville,
Kentucky.
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President Joe Biden holds a Cabinet meeting to discuss the
implementation of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill at the White
House in Washington, U.S., November 12, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
HARASSMENT ARREST
The bill was crafted as a bipartisan achievement for Biden, who had
campaigned as a centrist Democrat, and the moderate Republicans who
helped write it.
But it became a partisan lightning rod, with Republicans complaining
that House Democrats delayed its passage to ensure party support for
Biden's $1.75 trillion social policy and climate change legislation,
which Republicans reject.
The 13 Republicans who broke ranks with their party and ignored the
instructions of their leaders to support the measure have been
targeted by former President Donald Trump and some of their own
colleagues.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump loyalist, called them
"traitors" for giving Biden a political victory in a vote that was
opposed by enough House Democrats to sink the measure.
Many of those Republicans have received death threats against
themselves and family members.
Police in New York state's Nassau County said on Friday they had
arrested a man and charged him with aggravated harassment for making
an alleged death threat to Republican Representative Andrew
Garbarino, who voted for the bill.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a staunch Trump
ally, was censured by a county Republican Party for supporting the
bill.
Biden plans a victory lap after the signing ceremony. He will visit
a bridge in Woodstock, New Hampshire, on Tuesday to promote the bill
as well as a General Motors electric vehicle facility in Detroit on
Wednesday.
(Reporting By Steve Holland and David Morgan; Editing by Heather
Timmons and Jonathan Oatis)
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