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When it comes to the manufacturing and use of automobiles, the U.S. government enforces a long list of regulations. In the name of safety, federal law requires that all new automobiles include seat belts, air brake systems, airbags and so on. Thanks to the massive infrastructure bill passed in November and signed into law by President Joe Biden, the government soon will be enforcing a new regulation -- one that gives federal authorities the ability to shut off your vehicle at any time. Advertisement - story continues below Buried on page 403 of the legislation, the provision requires "advance drunk...

Musk's finally ready to admit that government subsidies distort markets and that government actors are terrible at capital allocation."Say tomorrow, you get a phone call from Joe Biden," asked Wall Street Journal tech columnist Joanna Stern to Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a Monday night forum. "And he asks: What are your needs from this [$2 trillion spending] bill? How do you answer him?" "We don't think about it at all, really," Musk said, channeling Don Draper to the tune of the audience's uneasy laughter. "It might be better if the bill doesn't pass," Musk added. "The federal budget deficit...

Yet for all of his attempts at salesmanship, officials acknowledge that for the benefits of the infrastructure bill to be felt, the money must be distributed effectively and not go to waste. Biden said he would name the individual responsible for overseeing the implementation at some point next week. He recalled his own assignment during the years he served as vice president ensuring the 2009 stimulus bill was implemented smoothly.

A total of 32 House and Senate Republicans helped push Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package over the finish line, most of whom have been showered with campaign cash from the leading lobbying group behind the bill — the US Chamber of Commerce. Lawmakers run for office, grabbing donations from interest groups, then, after their election, voting for legislation supported by those special interest groups despite their constituents’ opposition. The Chamber had been lobbying for Biden’s infrastructure bill, since the start of the year. By July, Open Secrets reported the Chamber had spent more than $12 million lobbying for the bill...

The expected $4 billion increase in federal road and bridge funds over the next five years is raising the rhetoric against the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s proposal to toll nine bridges across the state to pay for their replacement. The department says its financial problems are so severe that using federal infrastructure funds approved Friday instead of following through with tolling would still prevent the agency from repairing hundreds of other bridges across the state. The $4 billion increase in federal funds over five years will help, the agency said, but it claims it should be spending $8.1 billion more...

Last week, 13 Republicans crossed the aisle in an inexplicable move that diffused a Democrat civil war and handed Joe Biden a big win. On Friday, enough members of the far-left “squad” were prepared to vote down the bipartisan infrastructure bill until GOP members stepped to the fore to give Pelosi what she needed.There are a lot of reasons to be angry about that as a Republican, and we’ll get to some of those. But to set things up, I want to start this clip of GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) on Fox News this morning defending her vote as...

Chuck Schumer was spotted celebrating the passing of President Biden's infrastructure bill on Friday night, but the Senate Majority Leader who was in Puerto Rico, appeared to let the win for the Democrats go to his head and forgot to wear a face mask. Strict local rules on the Caribbean island are still in place and require those in public places indoors to wear face coverings, regardless of their vaccination status. Schumer, 70, was seen embracing island life as he attempted to perform the merengue alongside New York City Council member Carlina Rivera who was also maskless. 'Sen. Majority Leader...

Biggs, Boebert, Gaetz and Greene among House Republicans sounding off on Twitter after late-night vote on Democrats' spending plan House Republicans opposing the Democrats' $1 trillion infrastructure package reacted swiftly late Friday after their colleagues across the aisle – aided by 13 members of the GOP – passed the legislation. .. ..Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., called the bill "garbage," and argued that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi couldn't get it passed without help from the 13 Republicans. The vote was 228-206, with six Democrats, all progressives, voting against it... ...Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., warned his fellow Republicans before the vote: "Vote...

resident Joe Biden took to the phones for last-minute calls to key House members as Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through two critical votes late Friday on the Democratic agenda: the president's $1.75 trillion "Build Back Better" social spending and climate policy package and the separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan. The final vote on the infrastructure plan, already passed by the Senate, passed 228-206, with 13 Republicans joining Democrats and six Democrats voting against. The bill will now be sent to Biden's desk for signature. In the end, it took 87 days following the passage of the bill in the...

8:00 AM The House will convene at 8 a.m. Friday to begin work on passing President Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending and climate package, which has been stuck in a battle within the party between liberals and centrists fighting over its size and shape. The internal battles, which have also gridlocked a bipartisan infrastructure bill already approved by the Senate, have been blamed for pulling down Biden's approval ratings, and for a dismal showing by the party in Tuesday's off-year elections, when Democrats lost the governor's race in Virginia — where Biden won by 10 points just a year ago....

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) got into argument on Wednesday during which the centrist West Virginia senator said he was willing to let go of all of President Biden's social spending plan, according to an Axios report that has been corroborated by multiple other senators who witnessed the spat. Fellow Democratic Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Chris Coons (Del.), both of whom serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee and were both in the room when it happened, relayed details of the blowup to Axios. According to Tester, Sanders said, "Joe said, 'I'm comfortable with nothing.' ... We...

Key Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is demanding more time to get "clarity" on the economic impact of the social spending package put forward by President Biden and other Democrats. In remarks to reporters on Monday, Manchin blasted House progressives for holding the bipartisan infrastructure bill hostage. "As more of the real details outlined in the basic framework are released, what I see are shell games, budget gimmicks that make the real cost of the so-called $1.75 trillion bill estimated to be almost twice that amount, if the full time is run out, if you extended it permanently," Manchin told reporters...

RECONCILIATION ROUNDUP: Policies to Wreck America TOPLINE: We as congressional Republicans have an urgent duty to tell the truth about what’s REALLY in the Democrats’ $3.5T big government socialist takeover and warn the American people what’s coming. This bill is a disaster and should be polling at 20%. We all know it. So, how can we explain the 52-55% approval its garnered in the polls? The chief reason that it keeps polling favorably is because we haven’t done a good enough job letting the American people know what’s in it. Here’s what happens to public opinion when the public learns...

Fox News contributor Karl Rove explains how the debt ceiling crisis could unfold amid the infrastructure and budget reconciliation bills.

The odds for President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill are getting worse with each passing hour. At least 60 House progressives currently plan to vote against the infrastructure bill — more than enough to tank it — and Republicans are whipping against the legislation to help the far-left Democrats bring down the bill. House Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the infrastructure package. Still, at least 10 GOP lawmakers have publicly stated they will support the bill and its promise of road and bridge projects, despite their leadership’s insistence that the bill is “inextricably linked” to Mr. Biden’s $3.5 trillion social welfare package....

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said on Tuesday she will vote no on a bipartisan $550 billion infrastructure bill that's crucial to President Joe Biden's ambitious Build Back Better agenda 'unless I get some new information.' The Squad member indicated to reporters that she's unhappy with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to go ahead with a vote on the legislation while a Democrat-backed $3.5 trillion measure is being stalled by objections from moderates. She's now putting pressure on Pelosi to prioritize the larger bill instead.

Pennsylvania may have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make significant progress on a long list of needed infrastructure projects if the House passes the $1 trillion plan approved by the Senate and makes billions in federal dollars available to the state. Officials can’t squander this chance to upgrade roads, bridges, dams and other infrastructure areas statewide. In state-by-state estimates released by the White House, Pennsylvania stands to gain — over a five-year period — $11.3 billion in federal highway funding, $2.8 billion for public transit and $1.6 billion for bridge replacement. There’s also $171 million to add charging stations for electric...

Infrastructuremas hasn’t been canceled … at least not yet. The prospects for the bipartisan infrastructure bill don’t exactly look cheery, however, as Nancy Pelosi caved at least in part to the progressive House caucus. Instead of the vote scheduled today for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill, Pelosi has pushed it off to Thursday — the same day that Congress has to act to forestall a government shutdown:

House Democrats will honor their commitment to moderates and vote early next week on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday."It will come up on Monday," the Speaker told reporters just outside the Capitol.Whether the bill will pass, however, remains an open question. And liberals are already predicting it won't.

Greg Lalevee is standing in the midst of a truly epic collection of construction equipment at his union’s training center, just off the New Jersey Turnpike. This former sand mine, which his union uses to train workers in construction equipment, is bristling with cranes, pile drivers and dozens of other pieces of heavy machinery. But before showing off a construction arsenal vast enough to raise a skyscraper on the spot, Lalevee is enthusing about his union’s good fortune as Congress finally pays attention to infrastructure. “When President Biden announced his plans, for us to hear that — it was nirvana,”...