Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves blasted President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan on Sunday, describing it as “more like the Green New Deal than … an infrastructure plan.”
Reeves said the plan looked like a $2 trillion tax hike and predicted it would cause “significant challenges” for the economy while appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Calls Out Biden’s Infrastructure Plan, Says It’s A Green New Deal, Reparations Bill)
WATCH:
Tapper began the discussion on Biden’s infrastructure plan by stating to Reeves that the American Society of Civil Engineers gives Mississippi a “D-minus” on its roads and bridges. He then said that the number of roads in poor condition in Mississippi is “double the national average.” He added that Biden’s plan “would commit more than $100 billion to fix roads and bridges.” He then asked Reeves if his state could use that help.
“There’s no doubt that Mississippi could use our fair share of $100 billion. The problem with this particular plan though, is although the Biden administration is calling it an infrastructure plan, it looks more like a $2 trillion tax hike plan to me,” Reeves responded. “That’s going to lead to significant challenges in our economy, it’s going to lead to a slowing in [gross domestic product], and it’s going to lead to Americans losing significant numbers of jobs.”
Reeves went on to say that infrastructure is an area where Democrats and Republicans can come together and “do something good for the country.” He then criticized the plan because it “spends more” on Amtrak and public transit combined than it does on roads and bridges, as well as proposes billions “to subsidize electric vehicles.”
“That is a political statement. It’s not a statement on trying to improve our infrastructure in America, so it looks more like the Green New Deal than it looks like an infrastructure plan,” he continued, “but if the Biden administration will do what the president has said he wants to do, which is work with Republicans, I believe we can come up with a plan that we can afford, one that we can pay for, and one that truly invests in the infrastructure needs of this country.”
Reeves concluded by saying that Mississippi could use the federal support, and that infrastructure “is a core function of government” at every level, but that taxes don’t have to be hiked by $2 trillion to get it done.