FOES LEFT & RIGHT

Joe’s $2T ‘build’ bill: ‘Too much! Too little!’

I’m going to fight them every step of the way.

— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

This is not nearly enough. — Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

President Biden is facing opposition to his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal from both sides of the aisle, with Republicans warning it goes too far and progressives furious it doesn’t go far enough.

The “Build Back Better” proposal, a centerpiece of his postCOVID campaign message, will be split into two packages for Congress to pass.

The first part, focused on infrastructure, is not being well received by the left or the right.

Progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) voiced their concerns that not enough was covered in Part 1.

Speaking to reporters last week, Warren said, “I care about getting it done, and we need all the parts done. We need roads and bridges and child care. We need to attack the climate crisis head on.”

But she added, “I want to see the details of how they’re planning to make sure that the climate issues and the child-care issues don’t get left behind. We can’t have the train leave the station and critical parts are left on the platform.”

This week, however, Warren was singing a different tune, tweeting on Wednesday, “[T]he #AmericanJobsPlan is a gamechanger and full of ideas that progressives like me are fighting for to make long-overdue investments in America’s future.”

Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, is sticking to her belief that Part 1 is severely inadequate. “This is not nearly enough,” the Democratic socialist tweeted Thursday. “The important context here is that it’s $2.25T spread out over 10 years. For context, the COVID package was $1.9T for this year *alone,* with some provisions lasting 2 years.” Speaking on a call with reporters Tuesday, Jayapal argued that Biden was not delivering on his campaign promises with the bill in its current form. “The Biden infrastructure proposal on the campaign trail was significantly larger than what’s been discussed so far with Build Back Better,” she said, noting that candidate Biden proposed up to $11 trillion in spending over 10 years.

Jayapal noted during her press call that she believed there was “ample room” to get the final cost “up to somewhere in that range in order to really tackle the scale of investment that we need to make.”

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) unveiled a far grander infrastructure proposal Monday calling for $10 trillion in spending over a decade.

On the right flank, Biden is essentially dealing with the opposite problem, with Republicans voicing concern about the price of the latest package — and its priorities.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said members of his party will fight the package “every step of the way.”

“I don’t think the American people gave them a mandate to drive our country all the way to the political left,” McConnell said. “I’m going to fight them every step of the way.”