WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) spoke on the Senate floor about President Biden’s outrageous “infrastructure” bill and how it completely blows any chance of a bipartisan agreement.

To watch Senator Blackburn’s speech, click below or here.

You can read the transcript recorded in the Congressional Records below or click here.

MRS. BLACKBURN: Madam President, we have just listened to Senator

Portman, and you are hearing others of us on the Republican side of the

aisle talk about the elevated levels of spending and how our Democratic

colleagues have seemed to lose touch with the American people. This is

something that appears to have happened at lightning speed.

  It really began on the very first day of the Biden administration. It

started with the stroke of a pen and a stream of Executive orders. On

Day 1, President Biden made a decision that he would weaken our border,

and with that stroke of a pen, he destroyed hundreds--hundreds,

thousands--of good-paying union jobs right in the middle of a pandemic,

and that was by eliminating the Keystone Pipeline. With every decision,

he has made it abundantly clear that he came back to Washington not to

serve this country but to advance an agenda pushed by the most radical

leftwing of the Democratic Party.

  That being said, the White House has a problem because the American

people have figured out what they are up to, and as I have been home

for the past couple of weeks, I have talked to Tennesseeans from every

political division. They are Democrats, Republicans, Independents; they

are unaffiliated; and they are concerned citizens. It bothers them,

what they are seeing from this White House. How could they not have,

after seeing Senate Democrats spend $1.9 trillion on coronavirus relief

that spent just 9 percent of that pricetag on testing and healthcare

jobs? If that didn't do it, President Biden surely ticked them off when

he nominated a Health and Human Services Secretary with no healthcare

experience--zero--and a Homeland Security Secretary who believes that

we should have unsecured borders. You cannot make this up. People are

astounded with this.

  So when people back home in Tennessee saw President Biden's latest

proposal for a $2 trillion so-called infrastructure bill, they weren't

particularly shocked to see that very little of this legislation has to

do with infrastructure.

  Just 3 months into the new administration and already they know that this is just another vehicle for the left's wish list.

  The most frustrating thing about it is that Tennesseans have

repeatedly told me that a smart, targeted plan to fund infrastructure

improvements would make a tremendous difference in local communities

and in our State. They support that type of investment. They want to

see that. Roads, bridges, waterways, highways, broadband, airports,

they are for that. What they don't support is an administration that

repeatedly promises one thing and then chooses to do the opposite.

  Just like last month's over-the-top spending bill, this month's

multitrillion-dollar boondoggle isn't just a waste of taxpayer dollars;

it is a missed opportunity to rebuild parts of our economy that were

struggling to keep up before the pandemic hit.

  Here is a number for your talking points: Less than 6 percent. And

what is less than 6 percent? That is the amount, that is the percentage

of this $2 trillion bill that actually goes to infrastructure

projects--less than 6 percent.

  Tennesseans are asking me: How could this possibly happen? We have

been talking about having an infrastructure bill now for about 3 years,

and you bring a bill forward--the Democratic leadership does--and less

than 6 percent goes to infrastructure.

  Now, this sounds like a familiar tactic: Redefine your standards, put

less than 10 percent of your funding toward your stated purpose, then

throw the rest into yet another handout for projects that would not

stand a chance. They wouldn't have a snowball's chance of receiving

public support on their own, much less 60 votes here in this Chamber.

  President Biden's American jobs plan ignores rural Tennesseans who

have to navigate flood plains to get to work or to get to school. It

bypasses crumbling bridges they can't avoid, but it sure does pay a lot

of attention to Green New Deal policies that were nonstarters even

before Speaker Pelosi lost ground in the House.

  Climate change studies and union payouts take precedent over roads,

bridges, ports, airports, and waterways. In fact, this absurd scheme

spends more taxpayer money on electric cars than on all of those things

combined. Yes, you heard me correctly. This so-called infrastructure

bill spends more money, more of your hard-earned tax dollars, on

electric cars than on all of the roads, bridges, highways, ports,

airports, and waterways. That is correct.

  Another day, another power grab made worse by job-destroying,

corporate tax increases that will put American companies at a global

disadvantage. It is no wonder Democrats have been working overtime to

stretch the definition of ``infrastructure'' past the point of reason.

  These days, entire White House press briefings rely on the idea that

the definition of ``infrastructure'' will continue to evolve--as they

say, it is going to evolve--to make it include whatever the Democrats

decide that it should include. It is a time-honored liberal trick that

has run its course.

  They can tweet that lie every day for the next 4 years if they

choose, but here in the real world, we are dealing with an economy

still in recovery, major industries in crisis, and millions of families

who are working terribly hard and long hours to just make ends meet.

  What we are seeing here isn't just a disconnect. This is an

administration attempting to impose their socialist vision on a country

that cannot sustain the cost.

  To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I want to be clear.

That vision of America that you have invented to fulfill this purpose

does not exist. It is time to come up for air and talk a little

reality.

  I know it is a popular thing here in Washington to claim that

elections have consequences, but on your first day back in power, the

Democratic Party got together and marched right across the line that

separates consequences from punishment. Punishment, that is what they

are all about.

  I would also encourage my Democratic colleagues to remember that when

they do this, when they put together these trillion-dollar handouts for

radical special interests, political pain for their opponents isn't the

only result. They are punishing their neighbors, their friends,

communities that are in their States. They are making life harder, much

more difficult, for local businesses and small business manufacturers,

and they are exposing our weaknesses to our adversaries.

  I will tell you, if President Biden and the majority leader shove yet

another blank check through this Chamber, they are going to find out in

a hurry, I really do believe, how little the American people have to

give for their leftist agenda.

  I yield the floor.