BRIDGE & CUDGEL
Joe slaps D.C. GOPers & lauds locals in La. infrastructure trip
President Biden traveled deep into reliably conservative Louisiana on Thursday to pitch his tax-hiking infrastructure plan directly to local officials as Republicans back on Capitol Hill remained adamantly opposed to the sprawling $2.3 trillion proposal.
Biden kicked off the trip with a speech in front of a dilapidated interstate highway bridge in Lake Charles near the Texas border, providing a pertinent backdrop for his push to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
Joining him for the speech was Nic Hunter, the Republican mayor of Lake Charles, who said in his own remarks that his city has a “dire need” for “an infrastructure plan that can build us a new bridge.”
Biden used Hunter’s support as a cudgel for a thinly veiled jab at GOP lawmakers in Congress.
“I find more support from Republican governors and mayors and Democratic governors and mayors around the country because they’ve got to answer the question: Is life better in this town, this city, this state than it was before I got elected?” said Biden, who was also joined by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat.
Biden’s
$2.3 trillion American
Jobs Plan would inject hundreds of billions of dollars into fixing roads, bridges, railroads, airports, water pipes, power grids, broadband connections and a barrage of other infrastructure systems across the country, creating millions of jobs in the process.
The massive government spending blueprint — which also aims to retrofit American infrastructure in a way that’s more climate-friendly — is popular among voters on both sides of the aisle, according to polling.
But the plan remains deeply unpopular among Republicans in Congress who balk at the idea that it should be paid for by hiking taxes on corporations and the richest Americans.
Buoyed by the local support from Hunter, Biden offered a two-punch counter-argument to the Republican reticence.
First off, he said he’s “ready to compromise” with the Republicans, suggesting he could move a bit on how much to bump the corporate tax rate, for example.
“[But] I’m not ready to have another infrastructure month and not change a damn thing,” he said, referencing former President Donald Trump’s failed attempt to get an infrastructure plan through Congress.
Speaking in a state that Trump won by a landslide in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, Biden said Republican hand-wringing about tax hikes defies logic and affirmed his promise that no one making less than $400,000 will pay a penny more in taxes.
“If you’re a construction worker and your wife’s a school teacher, you’re paying at a higher tax rate than corporate America is paying. Not a joke,” he said.
“You’re entitled to be a millionaire, be a billionaire, just pay your fair share,” he continued. “I’m not looking to punish anyone. I’m sick and tired of corporate America not doing their fair share.”
Still, Biden’s plea for what he deems a common-sense tax plan isn’t getting any love from GOP brass in Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week that “100%” of his focus was “on stopping this new administration,” underscoring the uphill climb Biden faces in trying to make his infrastructure plan bipartisan.
Republicans say Biden’s package is too expensive and want to define it more narrowly, concentrating on roads, bridges, and transit rather than baking renewable energy and other liberal priorities into the equation.
But Biden has stressed repeatedly that he wants his plan to be big, pitching it as an “investment in the future of America itself” during his first congressional address last month. To drive home his “go big” point, Biden also toured a water plant in New Orleans after his visit to Lake Charles.
Unless Biden musters support from at least 10 Republican senators — which appears unlikely — Democrats in the upper chamber will have to try to pass the bill through an arcane budget process known as reconciliation. The process would allow Senate Democrats to adopt the package without any GOP support as long as they can keep their own members in line. The Democratic-controlled House is expected to be able to pass Biden’s plan without much difficulty.