Ducey Steals Biden’s Credit

Historical Context: Not one Republican voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, after Republican polices blew up the economy and almost destroyed the financial system with the Great Recession in 2008.

During a town hall event in New Hampshire on February 2, 2010, President Obama riffed:

“I have to point out, though, that some of the very same folks in Congress who opposed the Recovery Act — and claim that it hasn’t worked — have been all too happy to claim credit for Recovery Act projects and the jobs those projects have produced. (Applause.) They come to the ribbon-cuttings and … (laughter). They found a way to have their cake and vote against it, too. (Laughter.)”

As Yogi Berra might say, “It’s déjà vu all over again” with our shameless GQP Governor Doug Ducey this week. He is taking credit for stimulus funds in the American Rescue Plan enacted earlier this year which was opposed by all four of Arizona’s Sedition Party members in Congress (shortly after they voted to overturn the election). And the classless Ducey lacked the good graces to give proper credit where credit is due. Partisan hack. (Compare this to President Biden graciously thanking Republicans who voted for the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, whom he invited to the bill signing at the White House this week).

Steve Benen reports, GQP governor touts investments made possible by Dems’ rescue package:

It was eight months ago when President Joe Biden signed an ambitious Democratic Covid-relief package into law, called the American Rescue Plan. Predictably, some Republican opponents of the $1.9 trillion measure started trying to take credit for the ARP almost immediately after it passed.

This came to mind yesterday reading a press release from Doug Ducey, Arizona’s Republican governor, whose statement included a headline that read, “Governor Ducey Invests $100 Million To Expand High-Speed Broadband.”

Governor Ducey today announced a $100 million commitment to expand high-speed broadband to unserved or underserved areas of the state, making it one of the single largest broadband investments in state history. The program, known as the Arizona Broadband Development Grant Program, will enable local communities to construct or improve broadband infrastructure that connects Arizonans in their homes and serves schools, libraries, small businesses, public safety operations and more.

The GOP governor added that the funding for the state initiative came by way of “the American Rescue Plan Act.”

In other words, Ducey is taking advantage of a Democratic policy opposed by his own party — including every Republican member of Arizona’s congressional delegation — though his press release thanked GOP state officials, and not those who approved the investments in the first place.

Writing in The Arizona Republic, columnist E.J. Montini made the case today that the governor’s “bogus boast … is BS.”

If Ducey is as pleased as he seems to be about receiving the broadband grant it is President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats he should be thanking. Perhaps even praising, since Ducey says that the grant is actually “making it possible for all Arizonans to thrive.” But, no. Thanking those responsible for the grant would be common decency. It would not be politics.

Now that Biden has signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, it’s a safe bet that plenty of Republican opponents of the package will soon try to benefit politically from its resources.

And it will be the duty of every Democrat (and the media) to point out as President Obama did:

“I have to point out, though, that some of the very same folks in Congress who opposed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — and claim that it hasn’t worked — have been all too happy to claim credit for  the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act projects and the jobs those projects have produced. They come to the ribbon-cuttings and …  They found a way to have their cake and vote against it, too.”

This includes all four of Arizona’s Sedition Party members in Congress.

They really should not be receiving any federal funds or projects in their districts after voting against it. Maybe then the voters of their districts who mindlessly elect these Sedition Party members to Congress will finally figure it out that they are voting against their own self-interests. They should not continue to benefit from federal largesse even after their obstructionist member of Congress votes against it. This is just rewarding bad behavior. There should be consequences.

To the voters in these districts: Thank the Democrats, you ingrates. That goes double for the classless Doug Ducey.

UPDATE: And so it begins … House GOP Lawmaker Takes Credit For Infrastructure Funding He Voted Against:

After Democrats passed their COVID-19 relief legislation earlier this year, Republicans took credit for provisions in the popular bill even though they voted against it.

Now, Republican lawmakers are starting to do so again with the infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law this week.

In a press release issued by his office on Monday, Alabama Rep. Gary Palmer touted funding in the bill aimed at connecting communities in the Appalachian region of the country to national interstate highways, something that will benefit his district, which encompasses the city of Birmingham.

“Birmingham is currently one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country without a complete beltline around it. Completing the Northern Beltline will benefit the entire region and enhance economic development and employment opportunities,” Palmer said in a statement.

An accompanying tweet issued by the congressman also touted funding for the project, though it left out the fact that he voted against it.

* * *

Palmer is a member of the conservative House Freedom (sic) Caucus. According to CNN, some members of the group are seeking to punish their 13 Republican colleagues who joined Democrats in voting for the infrastructure bill. One option under consideration is potentially moving to strip them of their committee assignments, the latest purity test in the GOP in the age of Donald Trump.

Trump has criticized the House and Senate Republicans who voted for the bill, complaining they helped give Biden a political win. Nineteen Senate Republicans voted for the bill earlier this year; some of them even joined Biden at the White House on Monday for a bill signing ceremony.

Only thirteen House Republicans voted for the bill, which includes funding for roads, bridges, highways, railways and ports.

UPDATE: Donald Trump’s Save America PAC is out with a new ad urging Republicans to vote out 13 congressional Republicans who are “RINOs, sellouts and losers” for voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Wait… but what about the 19 Republican Senators? More sore loser B.S. from the guy who turned “infrastructure week”into a running joke because he always failed to deliver. Loser.