Conservation group targets SC’s coastal Rep. Nancy Mace over social spending bill vote
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is among nine House Republicans who are being targeted by the League of Conservation Voters for their votes against President Joe Biden’s social infrastructure bill, which includes climate change measures.
Seven of the nine GOP members targeted by the league with Facebook ads are in districts formerly held by Democrats before the 2020 election and forecasted to elect a Democrat in 2020 by the Cook Political Report. An eighth district was considered a toss-up seat.
The ads said the Build Back Better Act, which passed the House and has been pushed as a massive social infrastructure bill by Biden, includes provisions the proponents say will lower energy costs, create jobs and help address climate change.
“The decision from these members of Congress to vote against our nation’s best chance to tackle the climate crisis while saving people money on their energy bills and other monthly expenses, investing in the frontline and communities of color that have suffered the most from toxic pollution and creating and sustaining millions of good-paying union jobs in the clean energy economy is unconscionable,” said Pete Maysmith, the league’s senior vice president of campaigns.
Mace, a freshman from Daniel Island who won the 1st District last year when she unseated one-term Congressman Joe Cunningham by 1 percentage point, is the only congressional member from South Carolina to be targeted by the league with digital ads.
The five other Republicans in the state’s House delegation also voted against the bill. However, they’re in safe Republican districts.
Mace criticized the legislation as one of the largest spending bills. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation will add $367 billion over the next 10 years, without taking into account higher revenues from increased enforcement of tax laws.
“For every one good policy, there were a dozen others that were reckless, government cash giveaways to special interest,” Mace said in a statement released by her office on Tuesday. “I support clean energy, but success in that sector is going to be through the free-market — not through tax credits and government handouts.”
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Conservation group targets SC’s coastal Rep. Nancy Mace over social spending bill vote."
