Rep. Fred Upton (R) of Michigan, pictured outside the Capitol on November 3, has received death threats to him and his family (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)


The 13 House Republicans who voted for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill are receiving threats to their political careers and even to their lives.

GOP senators who supported the measure in a 69-30 vote in August largely escaped criticism from Republican hardliners and Trumpists.

In contrast, fury has been whipped up against the Representatives who joined Democrats in the 228-206 vote on November 5. for the bill, which will be signed on Monday by President Joe Biden.

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The Republicans who backed the measure have been called “traitors”, including by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a supporter of QAnon conspiracy theorists.

Some GOP legislators have suggested stripping the 13 of their House committee positions. Others have called for them to be defeated in Republican primaries in 2022. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina wrote, “Vote for this infrastructure bill and I will primary the hell out of you.”

Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan has received multiple death threats, but his Trump-endorsed primary opponent Steve Carra only reinforced the warning: “This man stabbed Donald Trump in the back. Let’s crush him.”

Callers have told Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois to slit his wrists and “rot in hell”, and Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska to slip and fall down a staircase. Rep. Taylor Greene has encouraged the messages by posting the phone numbers of the Representatives’ offices on social media.

Trump, trying to get his loyalists into Congress next year, has fed the invective. He said those who voted for the infrastructure bill are “RINOs — Republicans in Name Only — who should be “ashamed of themselves.” He also targeted GOP senators such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky:

Why is it that old crow Mitch McConnell voted for a terrible Democrat socialist infrastructure plan, and induced others in his party to do likewise, when he was incapable of getting a great infrastructure plan wanting to be put forward by me and the Republican Party?

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a diehard Trumpist, repeated the demand for the 13 Representatives to lost committee posts, saying the vote for infrastructure was as significant as voting to impeach Trump.

Far from pushing back on the threats, Sen. McConnell is positioning himself carefully. He said he will not attend Monday’s signing by President Biden: “I’ve got other things I’ve got to do.”

McConnell did note that the bill was “basically written in the Senate by a bipartisan group of Republicans and Democrats”, and said it is “good for the country and I’m glad it passed”.