A forty year streak was broken this week when a Republican representative from Florida smashed a ball over the wall for a home run in the yearly congressional baseball game, according to The Daily Wire.
Rep. Greg Steube made the fantastic hit in Nationals Park, the home field of the Washington Nationals baseball team.
.@RepGregSteube hits "first out-of-the-park homerun in #CongressionalBaseballGame in more than 40 years … a bona fide major league homerun" pic.twitter.com/hE0uEBa1sc
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 30, 2021
The magnificent slam reportedly landed over 300 feet from home plate crashing into the front row of seats before bouncing back onto the field. Steube took a slow celebratory jog around the bases while receiving the respect of Democratic counterparts. He arrived at home plate to a swarm of Republican teammates to celebrate his incredible hit.
The NY Post wrote that “Steube is the first lawmaker to clear the fence at Nationals Park since the game was moved there in 2008.”
He reportedly joins Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. John Shimkus as the only three legislators to hit home runs out of the park during the annual game.
Rep. Steube also served as the Republican’s team starting pitcher, hurling fastballs while sporting a “Save America” hat autographed by former President Donald Trump. The Florida representative lasted one shy of six full innings pitched and was switched to third base as a relief came in.
Republicans won the tight, seven inning game 13-12.
Joe Biden made an appearance at the game, despite criticism that it should not have been a priority.
Biden’s massive $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” agenda was causing a division within the Democratic Party as Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Sinema were opposing the spending bill. Meanwhile, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was being threatened by progressive Democrat over their concerns about funding for Israel’s military.
Sen. Joe Manchin described Biden’s agenda as “fiscal insanity.”
“Respectfully, as I have said for months, I can’t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March,” said the West Virginia senator.
“At some point, all of us, regardless of party must ask the simple question — how much is enough?” asked Manchin.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a democrat From Washington promised that the infrastructure bill would fail if they planned on requesting a vote for Thursday.
“After that statement [from Manchin], we probably have even more people willing to vote no,” Jayapal said to reporters.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initially scheduled a vote for Thursday, but there seems to be enough public pushback and issues behind the scenes to cause her to delay it.