• Congressional members in a lobbying frenzy over Biden’s infrastructure plan,

Buttigieg fielding calls on potential adds

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have begun a frenzy of lobbying to ensure their pet projects and policy priorities are included in President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan, eager to shape what could be one of the most substantial public works investments in a generation.

Officials across the country are dusting off lists of construction projects and social programs, hoping to secure their piece of a plan aimed at addressing what the administration estimates is at least $1 trillion worth of backlogged infrastructure improvements, as well as economic and racial inequities that have existed for decades.

Senior lawmakers have started collecting lists of requests from their colleagues for what should be included in the bill, while top White House officials are fielding a torrent of calls from rankand-file lawmakers, all of whom have their own ideas.

“My phone is blowing up,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview. Nearly every lawmaker “can point to a road or a bridge or an airport” in his or her district that is in dire need of repair.

“There’s a ton of interest from Congress,” he said.

On Monday, Mr. Biden is set to meet at the White House with a group of Republicans and Democrats to discuss the plan, part of a push to forge a bipartisan compromise that may ultimately prove futile given GOP resistance to the scope of the package. The five Cabinet officials tapped to navigate the infrastructure package through

Congress, including Mr. Buttigieg, are continuing to discuss the plan with both Republicans and Democrats.

“The door is open,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of California, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Our hand is extended. Let’s find out where we can find our common ground. We always have a responsibility to strive for bipartisanship.”

The process is crucial to Mr. Biden’s strategy for maneuvering the far-reaching plan through a Congress where his party has minuscule majorities, at a time when the space for a bipartisan compromise is narrow and even Democrats differ on how to structure and pay for such a huge package. Mr. Buttigieg said Sunday on Fox News that Mr. Biden wanted to see “major progress in Congress” by Memorial Day, and lawmakers are eager to weigh in.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., wants to tackle the Gateway rail tunnel under the Hudson River. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R- Ky., and the minority leader, has suggested surely the “functionally obsolete” Brent Spence Bridge in his state should receive funding. And progressive lawmakers have a five-part wish list that includes lowering drug costs and providing a pathway to citizenship for workers in the country illegally.

“If you want to get broad, bipartisan support, you invite other people to have some input into the process,” said Sen. Thomas R. Carper, of Delaware, who leads the Environment and Public Works Committee. “Every senator has shared with us the priorities of their states. We’re getting good ideas.”

Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, of Oregon, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure

Committee, and the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Sam Graves, of Missouri, are also asking lawmakers to identify priorities in their districts.

With Democrats newly in charge of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Mr. Biden is thinking much bigger. His proposal includes not just trillions in spending for highways, bridges and other physical facilities but also huge new investments in areas that have not traditionally been seen as infrastructure, such as paid leave and child care.

That view, which critics say is too expansive and some progressives say needs to be bigger, has emboldened lawmakers in both chambers to try to use the package to accomplish all manner of policy priorities.

“Members are going to try to put as much on this vehicle as possible,” said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md.