WASHINGTON — The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill finally passed the House Friday night, but it came too late to possibly help Democrats with Tuesday’s election, and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said last week there was a connection.
“Democrats made a strategic error on the infrastructure bill,” she said Thursday during a virtual press conference, adding that the opportunity was there for them to come together and do something for the good of the country before Tuesday’s election.
“But they let it get held hostage,” she said, referring to the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party that threatened to block its passage if a proposed $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill did not get passed as well.
Capito has never supported that bill, calling in a reckless spending spree.
In the end, most House Democrats and several Republicans came on board with the infrastructure bill with negotiations continuing on the Build Back Better bill, which may be trimmed to $1.75 trillion.
The delay in passing the infrastructure bill, though, hurt support for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAullife even in Northern Virginia, she said. McAullife, who was expected to win, lost to political newcomer Glenn Youngkin in a GOP sweep of the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general offices.
Capito said residents of Northern Virginia, who often swing the statewide vote to the Democrats, could see for themselves how roads and bridges needed money from the infrastructure bill.
“That really hurt them (Democrats) at the ballot box,” she said.
While Democrats were talking about the Build Back Better bill and things like voting rights, citizens wanted to hear plans related to the high price of gasoline, inflation, education for kids and other issues that impact them directly, she said.
“It showed in the election results in Virginia as well as in New Jersey,” she said, where a Democrat who was heavily favored to win almost lost to a Republican.
Capito said extremist views in either party do not appeal to the majority of voters.
“I have always thought 80 to 85 percent of us live in the middle somewhere, maybe leaning a little to the left or a little to the right,” she said. “But the edges of both parties have extreme views.”
Capito said “far left progressives” were not satisfied with the infrastructure bill and wanted $4 trillion more and Democrats at the same time created what people saw an “overreach of government into people’s lives.”
People want action from the government but don’t want to be told what to do, she said, including orders related to education issues and the federal vaccine mandate, which she strongly opposes.
“People feel that government is making decisions for me I want to make for me and my family,” she said.
Capito also said the push for the federal voting rights act was a strategic error by Democrats.
“People ask me about many other things other than voting rights,” she said. “We are already doing a good job.”
Voting is more accessible than it has ever been, she said, adding that things like early voting work and more people are voting now than ever before.
Capito, who has rejected any claims of widespread voter fraud and was one of the first Republican senators to accept the results of the 2020 election, has said in the past a system is in place that works in states and elections are fair and safe, needing no federal intervention.