Devin Nunes: Pelosi has managed to 'burn down' Congress
California Republican joins 'Fox News Primetime' to discuss progress on bipartisan infrastructure bill and the future of Republicans Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney in the House
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., called out congressional Democrats for their recklessness, saying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has succeeded in destroying the federal legislative branch.
On "Fox News Primetime," host Tammy Bruce asked Nunes about the "monster truck" of an infrastructure bill and a Bernie Sanders-championed effort to pass a second triply massive spending bill also dubbed infrastructure, as well as the new order than unmasked lawmakers be fined $500 and other qualifying Capitol visitors be met by law enforcement citations.
"Well, I have never seen Washington this dysfunctional and I have been here a while and I have seen a lot of dysfunction," Nunes replied.
"But, Pelosi has managed to completely burn down this institution. I know you covered the masks and CDC and all the games. But they have weaponized and destroyed everything here."
Nunes said the infrastructure bill has no explicit pay-fors, adding that the federal and state gasoline taxes were originally prescribed to fund exactly what Democrats want to spend trillions on today.
"The early indications of this bill is that it is not even paid for. So, here's what the politicians keep doing here in Washington is they don't want to make the tough decisions: So if you really want to fund infrastructure, that was the original intent of the gas tax that everyone pays at the pump," he said.
"So naturally, no one wants to go increase gas prices at the pump…. And, we constantly need infrastructure. But nobody is asking the tough questions: why are states like California that have the highest taxes and the highest gas prices in the country; our roads are the very worst roads," he said.
He also questioned why infrastructure in states that spend the most on infrastructure, like California, Pennsylvania and Illinois in this regard, also have much bigger issues than other states with tighter purse strings.
"Why are roads so much better in other states that have such lower gas prices? It's really hard to believe. So, this looks really gimmicky," he said of the infrastructure bill.
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"Not only is this bill not paid for. But people need to understand that Pelosi has been over here saying -- as have other progressives – that this bill goes nowhere unless they pass the $3.5 trillion bill, which is really the holy grail of what left wants
"Because they don't need cloture or the 60 votes. They are trying to get 50 votes over there in the Senate… And they can spend the next year trying to do tremendous damage to this country. So I just hope that my Republican colleagues in the Senate aren't creating a vehicle, a political vehicle so to speak that allows the skids to be greased."