House Republican says party backlash for infrastructure vote 'small price to pay' as tensions simmer

After Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., voted for the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package last month, her office was inundated with angry phone calls.

She wasn't alone. The 13 Republicans who voted for the legislation drew ire from the party's growing far-right flank and former President Donald Trump, who said he would support primary challengers. Phone lines were flooded, and some members got death threats. In Nassau County, New York, a man was arrested and accused of making an explicit death threat against Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., who voted for the infrastructure package, The Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., publicly posted the names and phone numbers of GOP House members who voted for the bill, calling them "traitors."

But any such intimidation hasn't shaken Malliotakis, who said in an interview that she stands by the vote and believes the package will be of immense benefit to her conservative-leaning district, which spans Staten Island and a swath of southwest Brooklyn.

"I feel for my colleagues who have had to endure some of these horrific threatening phone calls. Look, we received many calls here. Most were not direct threats," she said. "It really shows how polarizing and toxic the political environment has become when an elected official is getting a threat over infrastructure — one of the things that everybody loves."

"It's unfortunate, but it's a small price to pay for doing what's right for my district and for the country," she added of the backlash she has experienced.

Traditionally, infrastructure spending hasn't inflamed partisan tensions similar to issues like abortion rights, immigration or health care. But this isn't a usual political environment. While Trump recently expressed no ill will toward Malliotakis in an interview with the New York Post, in which he said he still supports her after they spoke by phone, the episode reflects the larger power struggle between Republicans who would like to land bipartisan wins and those who fashion themselves as Trump loyalists and view such votes as akin to treason.

Malliotakis said voting for the package was a no-brainer because of the billions of dollars in infrastructure funding that would come to the state, the city and her district, in particular. She mentioned updating local sewer systems that were overwhelmed by Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm Ida, completing coastal resiliency projects, improving congested highways and modernizing ports and a trio of area airports, among other initiatives her district stands to benefit from.

Of the 13 House Republicans who backed the bill, six were from New York or neighboring New Jersey.

"This bill is something that we need," she said. "For decades, local and national leaders have failed to make the necessary investments in our infrastructure to modernize it and keep it up, keep pace with economic growth and bring it into the 21st century, particularly in an aging city like New York.

"We went through this bill. ... We had months to review it," she added. "And at the end of the day, it was all about my district. Is this bill good for my district? And the answer is yes."

She said much of the backlash is the result of voters' confusing the bill with President Joe Biden's wide-ranging social safety net and climate action plan, the Build Back Better Act, which she opposes. Malliotakis said her office was inundated with calls, many of which, she said, were from out-of-state voters, although not all were negative.

"I think people were clear that they saw the [phone] number posted by one of our colleagues," she said of Greene, whom Malliotakis voted this year to strip of her committee assignments. "There was a lot of misinformation made by that individual in particular, false information about this bill, mischaracterizations about this bill, saying this bill was only 10 percent infrastructure. That is completely false. This bill is cover-to-cover infrastructure."

In New York's 11th Congressional District, which Malliotakis represents, NBC News found mixed reaction to her vote in speaking with about a half-dozen voters. Some were upset to hear that Malliotakis had voted for the deal, linking it to the social safety net and climate legislation. Others were pleased or at least open to the legislation, which includes $555 billion in new spending.

In front of a Dunkin' on Staten Island, Gregory DiStefano said he was delighted that she backed the package, saying, "The money that's going to come is going to transform the country."

"It's about time she voted the proper way," said DiStefano, 73, a Democratic voter from the borough, adding that he felt she "should have voted" for Trump's second impeachment this year. "But, you know, most of Staten Island is not like that."

Then, a middle-age man cut in.

"Nicole Malliotakis sold out! She sold out, bro," said the man, who returned later to add: "Why would we give [Biden] a win? Why would we give him a f------ win?"

He refused to give his name or take further questions.

"They make everything political here in Staten Island," DiStefano said.