Texas senators vague on alternative to bipartisan infrastructure bill

Asked what his plan for fixing Texas’ infrastructure would be if he was in charge of the Senate, Sen. Ted Cruz had a short answer: “Give the money to Texas and let Texas do it.”

Asked the same question, Sen. John Cornyn said he would not answer a hypothetical.

Senators are in the middle of bipartisan negotiations involving a $1.2 trillion plan to repair the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Cruz and Cornyn, both Republicans, have not been involved in the negotiations.

Earlier in the week Cruz and Cornyn joined their Republican colleagues in opposing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s plan to start the process to formally consider an infrastructure bill. The 50 Senate Republicans who voted no were opposed to considering a bill that had not been finalized or released.

“We’re days away from having the opportunity to read a bill, let alone provide the Congressional Budget Office the opportunity to calculate the costs. That’s why it’s so baffling to me that the majority leader, the Senator from New York, is forcing a vote on this bill before it’s even ready,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor earlier in the week.

“Of course, that raises a very significant question: Why in the world would he do that? Why is he rushing through the final stage of what has been a productive, bipartisan process? The only logical conclusion I can come up with is he wants this bill and this bipartisan effort to fail.”

Schumer countered that he was only trying to move the cumbersome process along.

“This vote is not a deadline to have every final detail worked out. It is not an attempt to jam anyone,” he said.

The bill repair roads and bridges, expand high-speed internet access, upgrade power infrastructure, prepare infrastructure for climate change, get rid of lead water pipes, and increase rail transit options, according to a White House fact sheet.