McCarthy slams Biden infrastructure plan for misplaced priorities

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthySunday shows preview: Coronavirus dominates as White House continues to push vaccination effort Trump spokesman says defeating Cheney a top priority Gaetz, Greene tout push to oust Cheney: ‘Maybe we’re the leaders’ MORE (R-Calif.) slammed President BidenJoe BidenDefense lawyers for alleged Capitol rioters to get tours of U.S. Capitol Sasse to introduce legislation giving new hires signing bonuses after negative jobs report Three questions about Biden’s conservation goals MORE’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal for what he said were misplaced priorities.

Speaking to John Catsimatidis on his radio show on WABC 770 AM, McCarthy said there’s “not a need to spend these trillions of dollars” on the proposal. 

“The real challenge is in these great big bills there’s just waste, fraud, abuse, but more importantly corruption,” McCarthy said.

Biden’s proposal includes repairing 20,000 miles of roads and 10,000 bridges, expanding broadband access to rural and underserved communities, replacing the nation’s lead pipes and service lines for clean water, investing in manufacturing and expanding access to home and community-based care.

The president is looking to pay for the plan by increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent, and raising taxes on higher-income Americans.

Biden has said he would not raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 per year, but McCarthy said the claim was a “lie.”

“When the president talks about not raising taxes on people under $400,000, that’s a lie. Every day you watch the inflation that he is creating. This is the Biden Tax,” he said.

McCarthy told Catsimatidis that only about six percent of Biden’s infrastructure plan actually goes to infrastructure, and slammed a provision of the proposal that would invest in electric cars.

Biden’s plan includes $174 billion to “win the [electric vehicle] market,” which includes funding for the country’s production of electric cars and transition to this form of transportation.

It also includes incentives with a goal of 500,000 EV charges by the end of the decade, and electrifying no less than 20 percent of the nation’s school bus fleet.   

“Less than three percent of America have an electric car, but they want the government to subsidize it,” McCarthy said. “And what they will do is raise the utility costs, a tax on all Americans.”

Senate Republicans have proposed a counter $600 billion plan focused on traditional infrastructure issues like bridges and roads, along with broadband. Biden is meeting with six GOP senators, led by Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (W.Va.), next week amid Democratic efforts to pass the bill.

John Catsimatidis is an investor for The Hill.