By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com



Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin defended her votes in favor of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the Build Back Better plan during a recent town hall.

Though the events in Oxford were foremost on many people’s minds, the Holly Democrat also spent a good portion of her online town hall event, Thursday, on the two federal spending plans.

First, she shared thoughts on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal that was signed into law last month. Slotkin helped come up with the framework for the plan as part of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. She called it a generational investment that will transform the state over the next decade. Slotkin additionally called the deal the most significant of its type since the creation of the national highway system. She shared the benefits that it will bring to Michigan, which include $7-billion for roads and bridges over the next 5 years. It will also provide $1.3-billion for water infrastructure, which could benefit the fights against lead pipes, flooding, and PFAS contamination. Slotkin said the bill will also bring $100-million for broad internet across the state, and tens of thousands of middle-class jobs that can’t be outsourced.

Later in the meeting, she explained her decision in voting in favor of the $1.75-trillion Build Back Better Act that passed the House and is still in the Senate. Opponents of the plan, like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have called the plan the "single most reckless and irresponsible spending bill in our nation’s history."

Slotkin said that no bill is perfect and that while there are things she’d prefer to be taken out, the good she sees it bringing was enough to get her to vote in favor of it. She said what she didn’t like were the immigration provisions in the bill, stating that more comprehensive system reform was needed. What she does like is how it would allow Medicare to negotiate for drug price, cap insulin at $35 per month, cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs for seniors at $2,000 per year, and penalize drugmakers for raising prices higher than the rate of inflation. She was also in favor of the plan capping child care spending at 7% of annual income, calling that a win for families and women.

The full town hall meeting can be found on her Facebook page. Visit it here: https://www.facebook.com/RepElissaSlotkin