Public works deal hanging by thread
GOP making plans to block bipartisan effort with filibuster
WASHINGTON — The bipartisan infrastructure deal senators brokered with President Joe Biden is hanging precariously ahead of a crucial Wednesday test vote as senators struggle over how to pay for nearly $1 trillion in public works spending.
Tensions were rising Tuesday as Republicans prepared to block the vote, mounting a filibuster over what they see as a rushed and misguided process. With Biden preparing to hit the road to rally support for his big infrastructure ideas — including some $3.5 trillion in a follow-up bill — restless Democrats say it’s time to at least start debate on this first phase of his proposals.
“It is not a fish or cut bait moment,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., describing the procedural vote as just a first step to “get the ball rolling,” though Republicans say he is now downplaying the significance.
Biden marked six months in office Tuesday with a crowded Cabinet meeting, a gathering meant to symbolize both a return to normalcy due to vaccines and a display of the federal government doing the people’s business.
But the moment was shadowed by the uncertain fate of a key Biden legislative priority, the bipartisan infrastructure plan, and a virus that has begun to surge anew.
Biden crammed 25 Cabinet-level officials, as well as
“The American people are overwhelmingly supportive of our plan,” the president said. “That’s the part that a lot of our friends on the other team kind of miss.” — President Biden
another 18 senior staffers, into the ornate West Wing space to hear the president extol his administration’s actions after taking office during a once-in-a-century pandemic.
“The bottom line is we’re delivering on our promises,” Biden said. “We have to deliver on all the promises we made because I think we’re in a situation where the vast majority of the public agrees with the essence of what we’re trying to do.”
The meeting lacked the overthe-top praise of the chief executive that defined former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet meetings. But Biden took the opportunity to push for his two-track legislative plan, believing that it was key to jump starting “an economic boom for some time to come.”
“The American people are overwhelmingly supportive of our plan,” the president said. “That’s the part that a lot of our friends on the other team kind of miss.”
White House aides and the bipartisan group of senators have huddled privately since Sunday
trying to wrap up the deal on Biden’s domestic priority, which would be a first phase of an eventual $4 trillion-plus package of domestic outlays — not just for roads and bridges, but foundations of everyday life including child care, family tax breaks, education and an expansion of Medicare for seniors.
Biden calls it a “blue-collar blueprint for building an American economy back.”
Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell and some outside groups decry what they call Biden’s “spending spree.”
A group of Republicans is interested in pursuing a more modest package of traditional highway and public works projects, about $600 billion in new funds, that members have been trying to negotiate with the White House.
Biden has been in touch with both Democrats and Republicans for several days, and his outreach will continue “until he has both pieces of legislation on his desk to sign them into law,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
While Biden proposes paying for his proposals with a tax hike on corporations and wealthy Americans who earn more than $400,000 a year, the bipartisan group has been working almost around the clock to figure out a compromise way to pay for its package, having dashed ideas for boosting the gas tax drivers pay at the pump or strengthening the Internal Revenue Service to go after tax scofflaws.
Instead, senators in the bipartisan group are considering rolling back a Trump-era rule on pharmaceutical rebates that could bring in some $170 billion to be used for infrastructure.
Ten Republicans would be
needed in the evenly split Senate to join all 50 Democrats in reaching the 60-vote threshold required to advance the bill past a filibuster to formal consideration.
Mcconnell and outside groups including the conservative Americans for Prosperity encouraged Republicans to vote against proceeding to the bipartisan package until they have more details.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-maine, one of the members of the bipartisan group. “We’re making progress, but we need more time.”
Many Republicans are wary of moving ahead with the slimmer package, fearing it will pave the way for the broader $3.5 trillion effort Democrats are preparing to pass on their own, under special budget rules that only require 51 votes. Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie.
Liberal Democrats in the House are eager to make gains on Biden’s priorities — with or without Republicans.
“Time’s a wasting, I want to get this work done,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-wash., the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters Tuesday.