'Infrastructure is a bipartisan issue': McCaul calls for legislators to handle infrastructure bill properly

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Houston) has called on leaders on the other side of the aisle to take infrastructure legislation seriously.

Republicans have criticized the massive proposed infrastructure plan for not including enough funding for traditional infrastructure. Only $579 billion of the proposed $1.2 trillion in the bill would go toward infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges, The Federalist reported.

Opponents have condemned Democrats for trying to include agenda items such as paid leave and child care under infrastructure, according to FOX News.

"Infrastructure is a bipartisan issue, and any successful legislation must stick to traditional infrastructure," McCaul wrote in a July 6 Twitter post. "We can’t muck this up with issues unrelated to infrastructure and expect Americans to pick up the tab for it through increased taxes."

McCaul asserted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) blocked a vote on the bipartisan legislation, stating the best course of action would be an agreement between the White House and the U.S. Senate.

"I think what the House, what Pelosi put forward was a totally partisan measure," McCaul said, FOX News reported. "You know, one out of every two dollars went to the Green New Deal. Totally unacceptable to Republicans."

Critics have also denounced the bill for significantly increasing the national deficit, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. It is the largest bill of its kind since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and would cost four times as much as the infrastructure plans passed after the Great Recession, AP News reported.

President Joe Biden argues that the bill is necessary for the nation to assert the principles of democracy and is an investment in the country's economic future which will create millions of new jobs.

“This deal isn’t just the sum of its parts. It’s a signal to ourselves, and to the world, that American democracy can come through and deliver for all our people,” Biden said, according to AP News. “America has always been propelled into the future by landmark investments.”

The bill could be on the Senate floor as early as the week of July 19, Politico reported.