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Smucker Joins C-SPAN’S Washington Journal

November 17, 2021

Washington, DC – On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal call-in program, taking questions from callers across the country. Smucker answered questions about the massive tax and spending proposal before Congress, on infrastructure and gas prices, and COVID mandates. Below is a transcription of responses to selected questions from Smucker's appearance. Click here to watch the full program.

On Democrats "Build Back Bankrupt" proposal:

"This will be again a massive increase in federal spending, it will increase the federal debt and it will contribute more to inflation…I think it is the wrong policy to continue to massively expand the federal government, to increase dependency on the federal government, and to disincentivize work, which is what we have been seeing out of this administration… This isn't what the people of my district want, this isn't what the American people want. I believe they [Democrats] are going to try and ram this through," said Smucker.

On infrastructure, impact of debt, future of infrastructure funding:

"I believe that infrastructure is a core function of government… Unfortunately, what has happened is Democrats in the House, Speaker Pelosi have lumped all of these massive spending programs together. I have previously supported infrastructure spending, I would have liked to have done so if this bill had been properly paid for…At the very least we're doing this on the backs of our kids and grandkids. I ran for Congress to ensure that every American has their opportunity to live their own American Dream…I think with the economic policies that we're seeing advanced by this administration, that is at risk..." said Smucker.

"An outsized portion of this bill went to electric vehicles and other Green New Deal policies. It was not properly paid for. So for instance, the revenue that is coming in from vehicles driving on our roads is declining. If you think about it, vehicles are more fuel efficient than they were before and folks are moving to electric vehicles. And so that needs to be fixed. I've introduced a bill in Congress that would ensure, that would ask owners of electric vehicles to pay their fair share for driving on the roads just as the owner of every other vehicle. Something like that should have been included in this bill and it was not. So the bill wasn't fully paid for, it will increase the debt… I just couldn't support this massive bill and I couldn't support the whole package that was tied together here in the House," said Smucker.

On COVID vaccine mandate:

"We've had remarkable success with a vaccine that was developed in record time. It is very effective. I took the vaccine, my family has taken the vaccine, from the time that it was first available. I encourage people to speak to their doctors about whether that is the right decision for them. And I think that is where the decisions should be made…This is not something that should be mandated from the government...Certainly it is a massive overreach of the federal government. I believe it is unconstitutional…I have sent a letter with the other Republican colleagues, Members of Congress, from my state to our Attorney General asking him to join in [on other states' lawsuits against the vaccine mandate]. This is a decision that should be made individually and should not be mandated by the government."

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