Scope of US Infrastructure plan fuels partisan debate

As Biden prepares 2nd spending plan, debate continues over inclusion of social spending

US President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan will have to negotiate some partisan crosscurrents if it is to become law, with some in Congress calling for a two-part plan while others seek even more spending.

A leading Democratic senator said on Monday that he favors keeping “everything together” in the package.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois told reporters at the Capitol in Washington that sending up one bipartisan package centered on roads, bridges and transit and then turning to a second one with Democratic priorities such as child care and healthcare could be a mistake.

“We have so many things to do,” Durbin said, referencing police and immigration reform. “We don’t have a lot of time on the calendar. The sooner the better. Keep everything together and move it in a package that works.”

Democratic senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Chris Coons of Delaware have supported passing an infrastructure bill with Republican support and then a second one with only Democratic priorities, which the party could manage with 50 votes and Vice-President Kamala Harris’ support to break any 50-50 ties.

Biden is expected on Wednesday to introduce his “human infrastructure” plan — the American Families Plan — to pair with his physical infrastructure plan — the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan — announced on March 31.

Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is pivotal to the passage of Biden’s legislation in the Senate, told CNN on Sunday that the president’s plans “should be separated”. Manchin compared the American Jobs Plan to an omnibus spending bill that would be “very difficult for the public to understand”. He also has opposed budget reconciliation as a way to pass legislation without any GOP support.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, told Fox News on Sunday that “when America found out that just 6 percent (of the infrastructure plan) is going to the roads, that they’re not going to be built for more than a decade, that we spend more on subsidizing electric cars than roads, bridges and airports in this bill, I don’t think that’s going to be popular.”

Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan also pushed for a narrower plan Monday.

“We should separate out all of this other family infrastructure they’re talking about and all these massive tax hikes on the rich and on corporations,” Hogan told CNBC.

The president has proposed raising corporate taxes to pay for the jobs plan and is expected to propose higher taxes on income from stock sales and other assets. Biden is expected to call for an increase in the capital gains tax from 20 percent to 39.6 percent on high earners.

Hogan, who hosted a two-day infrastructure summit last week with a bipartisan group of governors and lawmakers, said “rebuilding America’s infrastructure is a critical issue that we all agree on, and we all think it should be a bipartisan effort”.

Senate Republicans proposed their own $568 billion infrastructure plan last week.

“We take the part of the president’s plan that most Americans agree is real, hard infrastructure, we give it our touch and we think we have a very good number here,” said Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, of the proposal that would focus on roads, bridges, highways and broadband internet service.

But Durbin said the GOP plan is funded with user fees and unused coronavirus relief money, which he said is “not going to do it”.

There also is support in the Democratic Party for the White House to do more.

Democrats on Capitol Hill want Biden to include Medicare expansion and prescription drug measures in the American Families Plan.

In a letter to Biden on Sunday, 17 senators led by Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, pushed for Medicare expansion as part of the plan, the second segment of the president’s “Build Back Better” agenda that he is expected to unveil Wednesday in a speech to Congress.

The letter included proposals to reduce the Medicare eligibility age below 65, expand Medicare benefits to include hearing, dental and vision care, cap out-of-pocket expenses and negotiate lower drug prices.

“As you know, Medicare has been one of the most successful and popular federal programs in our nation’s history since it was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965,” the letter said. “Now, 55 years later, the time is long overdue for us to expand and improve this program so that millions of older Americans can receive the health care they need, including eyeglasses, hearing aids and dental care.”

But White House press secretary Jen Psaki last week listed healthcare separately from the families plan.

“He (Biden) will definitely talk in his speech about his commitment to expanding and increasing access to healthcare,” Psaki said Friday.

The families plan will cost around $1.8 trillion, The Washington Post estimated. It would include $300 billion for education; $225 billion for child care; $225 billion for paid family and medical leave; and $200 billion for pre-kindergarten expansion.

In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said seniors and families are “counting on us to finally deliver the drug price negotiations they need to afford their medications. Families cannot afford to lose the enhanced ACA (Affordable Care Act) benefit passed in the American Rescue Plan, and we must make it permanent.”