Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested during a Fox News interview on Sunday that Senate Republicans should leave Washington, D.C., if Democrats try to ram through a $3.5 trillion infrastructure package that many say is a leftist wish list that has little to do with infrastructure.
“But before Republicans beat up on the Democrats in Texas for leaving Texas too much, if for some reason they pass reconciliation, budget resolution, to bring that bill to the floor of the United States Senate, the $3.5 trillion bill, you got to have a quorum to pass a bill in the Senate,” Graham said. “I would leave before I’d let that happen. So to my Republican colleagues, we may learn something from our Democratic friends in Texas, when it comes to avoiding a $3.5 trillion tax and spend package, leave town.”
“Wow. So, you just see them leave and you’re saying fine, they they were effective in not giving the Republicans a quorum,” host Maria Bartiromo responded. “You’ll do the same thing on a $3.5 trillion tax and spend?”
“Hey, Vice President Harris, if you think these people are heroes, well then I expect you to show up and pat us on the back,” Graham said. “Hell yeah I would leave. I will use everything lawfully in my toolbox to prevent rampant inflation. A $3.5 trillion infrastructure package that’s got nothing to do with infrastructure, that is a tax and spend dream of the of the socialist left. If it takes me not showing up to stop that, I will do it. Because if we pass that bill, you’re gonna have inflation through the roof. And if they put legalizing illegal immigrants in that bill, you’re going to have a complete run on the border, it will be throwing jet fuel on a fire called illegal immigration, it would lead to an invasion of illegal immigrants if we put amnesty in the $3.5 trillion bill, so I’d do anything I could to stop that.”
WATCH:
Sen. Lindsey Graham slammed the Democratic spending package and said on Fox News that he would flee, like the Texas House Democrats, to kill GOP-backed voting legislation. pic.twitter.com/FqprWEvZFJ
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) July 18, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS HOST: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is with us. He is the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee. He voted against that, he joins me now. Senator, it’s great to see you. Thanks very much for being here this morning.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you, Maria.
BARTIROMO: So are we, where are we at this point, Senator? Are these two bills tied? The $1 trillion, or less than $1 trillion infrastructure plan, and the $3.5 trillion spend and tax plan?
GRAHAM: No, I would support a $950 billion infrastructure plan for roads, bridges, and ports. President Trump had a $1.5 trillion plan. It’s got to be paid for, I’m in the bipartisan group, we’re having a hard time paying for the $958 billion, because we’re not going to raise taxes. But everybody’s trying really hard. As to $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, designed to pass without a single Republican vote, Joe Manchin has said that has to be paid for and the only way you can do that is through a massive tax increase. And the reconciliation package is not infrastructure. It’s big government, a liberal wish list. Paid family leave, all kinds of new social programs unrelated to infrastructure. So we’ll see if they can get Democratic support. But before Republicans beat up on the Democrats in Texas for leaving Texas too much, if for some reason they pass reconciliation, budget resolution, to bring that bill to the floor of the United States Senate, the $3.5 trillion bill, you got to have a quorum to pass a bill in the Senate. I would leave before I’d let that happen. So to my Republican colleagues, we may learn something from our Democratic friends in Texas, when it comes to avoiding a $3.5 trillion tax and spend package, leave town.
BARTIROMO: Wow. So, you just see them leave and you’re saying fine, they they were effective in not giving the Republicans a quorum. You’ll do the same thing on a $3.5 trillion tax and spend?
GRAHAM: Hey, Vice President Harris, if you think these people are heroes, well then I expect you to show up and pat us on the back. Hell yeah I would leave. I will use everything lawfully in my toolbox to prevent rampant inflation. A $3.5 trillion infrastructure package that’s got nothing to do with infrastructure, that is a tax and spend dream of the of the socialist left. If it takes me not showing up to stop that, I will do it. Because if we pass that bill, you’re gonna have inflation through the roof. And if they put legalizing illegal immigrants in that bill, you’re going to have a complete run on the border, it will be throwing jet fuel on a fire called illegal immigration, it would lead to an invasion of illegal immigrants if we put amnesty in the $3.5 trillion bill, so I’d do anything I could to stop that.
BARTIROMO: But this is where we are, this is what it has come to.
GRAHAM: Yes, yes.
BARTIROMO: You all have a responsibility to do the work and yet there’s so much hatred and upset, tell me about that amnesty element because now they’re just trying to throw whatever they can, including the kitchen sink, into this $3.5 trillion bill, they want to actually make illegals legal as part of this. Is that even a legal thing to do? I thought a reconciliation budget package must include federal money related items. Can they put amnesty in here?
GRAHAM: I don’t think so. But they’re gonna try because they don’t want to work with us. In 2013, I was part of a bipartisan group that passed a comprehensive immigration bill, and we spent $40 billion to secure the border. Schumer and Durbin voted for a $40 billion border security bill that built walls, did away with catch and release. To my Democratic colleagues, if you want to provide legal status for the DACA population, I will work with you, here’s what I want, I want you to finish the wall, which needs to be finished, and end catch and release for the asylum seekers, which will shut off a wave of illegal immigration and I will vote for DACA legalization. The reason they’re not working with us is that the party of reasonable border security, securing the border on the Democratic side, is dead and buried and replaced by the party of open borders. AOC and Elizabeth Warren will not allow the Democratic Party to do what they were doing just a few years ago when it comes to border security. If you voted for Joe Biden thinking he would be a moderate voice and would lead us to a centrist agenda, you got to be sorely disappointed, because there’s nothing moderate about the Biden administration.