President Joe Biden on Monday will sign a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill into law in a Monday afternoon ceremony that will be attended by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers who supported the bill. However, there will be one notable exception: Rep. Chris Smith, who voted to approve the legislation, but is now under fire from fellow Republicans and former President Trump for his vote.
Rep. Smith, whose 4th District includes Lakewood, was one of just 13 Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote in favor of the bill. The legislation includes historic investments in roads, bridges, ports, water, and rail, as well as billions to expand the nation’s broadband and water infrastructure.
According to TLS sources, while Rep. Smith supports the infrastructure bill, he does not want to give the illusion that the White House is making significant bipartisan inroads with Republicans and wishes to instead portray the infrastructure bill as a one-time scenario in which Republicans and Democrats agree upon an issue.
Smith has also come under fire since his ‘yay’ vote, most notably from Donald Trump, who pledged in a statement to support primary challengers to Smith and other Republicans who voted for the bill. It should however be noted that Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew also voted to pass the infrastructure bill, yet Trump did not mention him in the statement.
“Above all, this legislation is necessary to better ensure the safety of the people in my district, New Jersey, and the nation,” Rep. Smith told TLS. “Originally, the two major bills were scheduled to be voted on in the House on the same day—Friday, November 5th —but then only the infrastructure bill actually came to the House floor. This created a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding. Many people appear to have been genuinely misled into believing that provisions of the so-called Build Back Better legislation—pushed by President Biden and progressive Democrats—were included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure legislation. That was simply not the case. Infrastructure funding has long been recognized as critical to the U.S. economy, creating and sustaining jobs and for the safety of Americans.”
I think we realize by now that Mr. Trump is not to be taken seriously & has significant personality challenges. We appreciate the good he did for our community but now it’s time to move on
Mr. Trump’s “personality challenges”, under the present circumstances, are his greatest advantages. In an empire of lies, a man who is willing to bluntly speak the truth is indispensable. In a world where someone who dares to attack the totally corrupt status quo, anyone less than a man with Trump’s unapologetic toughness and fighting spirit will wilt and crumble in the face of the vicious, relentless attacks that characterized Trump’s opposition.
I don’t defend Mr. Trump as a “nice person”. He has substantial character defects, but he has shown remarkable courage, endurance, loyalty and generosity. Ultimately, regardless of his faults, his policy agenda was probably the best conservative presidential program, possibly greater than Reagan’s. I don’t say that lightly, but, if not for Corona and the viciousness of the Democrats and their friends in the media and big tech, he might have had the greatest presidency ever, despite his character flaws.
As commonly said nowadays, such as when you are filling up your gas tank, boy, I miss those mean tweets.
You are dead wrong! Even with the Corona etc, he is the greatest president this country has ever had. We all don’t want him for an eidim, but he is nothing short of a miracle for this country. HE DID EVERYTHING RIGHT in policy and no one can call him out on anything. If you want to talk about hakoras hatov, here is where it applies and NOT to Murphy and the other opportunists…..
Van Drew wasn’t singled out by Trump because he voted against the Jan 6 committee and Chris Smith voted in favor of it.
For Trump, it’s not really about the Infrastructure bill.
Investments in roads, bridges, ports, rails, and water supplies. Why are Republicans against this? Is it because it will force us to pay for it? Millionaires and billionaires will be forced to pay their fair share of taxes to pay for it. I’m not one of them.
everything trickles down to the middle class. nothing comes for free. inflation is a real thing. I did not get a bigger salary this year (like many other people did) and I am feeling it real bad.
“Investments”? “Fair Share of Taxes”? That’s a dead giveaway that you are a Democrat apologist-using their favorite deceptive catch phrases. Investments: this means massive amounts of money from US-THE TAXPAYERS. And by the way, do you have any idea what percentage of the 1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS is actually earmarked for such uses? About the same amount as Obama’s stimulus put into “shovel ready jobs”. The actual number going towards roads and bridges is less than 10% of the money. Moreover, you know that, whatever money is allocated, a massive amount gets siphoned off for boondoggle spending, union payoffs, political jobs, “community organizing” and on and on.
Republicans object to wasting TRILLIONS of people’s hard earned dollars.
Top 1% of earners pay 40% of all income taxes Top 10% of earners pay 60% of income taxes, so the “fair share” garbage is just that: class envy arguments for small minded people.
Its not just Trump – you all know that. Its because, mostly, he represents conservatives – which is most of us.
Mr. Smith has lost my vote – and anyone else that I have spoken to. We cant handle a rep who just keeps voting with the Dems – I’m done with him.
Representative Chris Smith has been a loyal advocate of the Lakewood community for many years. You can keep your idol Donald Trump & I’ll take the normal Chris Smith any day. The infrastructure bill benefit NJ tremendously & was going to be passed regardless. Thank you Chris Smith for your support & ignore the ideologues who are suffering from Trump withdrawal syndrome.
Trump didn’t mention Van Drew because Van Drew was elected as a Dem and switched over to the GOP under Trump, as oppose to Smith who despite being elected by a very conservative district, consistently votes against the GOP’s agenda like healthcare reform, and votes with the Dems like by this infrastructure bill
if Trump opposes thats the final word.
Chiming in as another Lakewood voter that plans to vote for his opponent next election. I voted for him every election. By voting for the Jan 6th committee and for this infrastructure bill he knew he is going too far.
Chris Smith is a good man. I have voted for him every election, but at some point voters can’t keep overlooking the fact that his voting record does not reflect the conservative views of his constituents.
10% of this bill was for conventional infrastructure (not sure what all that money for water is about, as NJ water utilities are private companies, and your water bill will not be going down).
Similarly I find the broadband funding to be disingenuous. Broadband is supposed to be regulated by the state as a utility/ monopoly. Any rate increases need to be approved by a state board, yet Optimum has been allowed to double their rates over the last 5 years.
If the state board would do their job, broadband would be affordable and wouldn’t need the Fed to throw $100 billion of taxpayer money at it. Essentially, this is D.C. paying back politically aligned broadband companies.
Additionally, this bill removes the requirement of a S.S. for elchild tax credits. Meaning illegals, and anyone else who fakes a claim, will now get a payment of up to $3,600 per child.
This bill is garbage, the only thing real about it is the inflation it will cause. It is unlikely Chris Smith even read the bill, and it reflects everything wrong with D.C.
So despite my 20 years of support for Chris Smith, this bill may be the final straw.