Bipartisan infrastructure pitch gains steam
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators sketching out an infrastructure proposal expanded their base of support on Wednesday, even as they continue to haggle over how to pay for billions of dollars in new spending in line with President Joe Biden’s vision for a massive overhaul of the nation’s public works system.
The initial framework, written by the likes of Sens. Mitt Romney, R- Utah, Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and seven other senators, falls far short of the sweeping infrastructure proposal that Mr. Biden has pitched yet aims to try to satisfy the president’s hunger for bipartisanship.
But their efforts received a big boost on Wednesday when 10 more senators joined the original 10 and said they supported the still-unreleased blueprint of a deal. The group includes 10 Republicans, nine Democrats, and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats. All told, they account for one-fifth of the entire U.S. Senate.
That, senators say, marked an attempt to prove publicly that this is a proposal that can win broad approval on Capitol Hill, even as an increasingly agitated progressive coalition is urging Biden to ditch his bipartisanship efforts and move onto Democratic-only efforts that would likely be much more expansive.
“We support this bipartisan framework that provides an historic investment in our nation’s core infrastructure needs without raising taxes,” the group of Democrats and Republicans said in the statement. “We look forward to working with our Republican and Democratic colleagues to develop legislation based on this framework to address America’s critical infrastructure challenges.”
The bipartisan Senate plan calls for about $974 billion in infrastructure spending over five years, according to people speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to reveal the details. This amounts to roughly $579 billion in new spending, in addition to some redirected spending from other programs.
Administration officials have indicated both publicly and to Capitol Hill that Mr. Biden is willing to let negotiations play out a little longer, but not indefinitely. Meanwhile, liberals are pushing Democrats to act on their own to pass on a significant, generational infrastructure package.
But some disagreements still separated the two parties’ lawmakers in negotiations — namely, how to pay for an infrastructure package without violating each side’s political red lines. Democrats have pledged they won’t raise taxes on Americans making under $400,000 from seeing a tax increase, and Republicans have refused to budge in opposing any tax increase that unwinds the cuts they adopted in 2017.
In a bid to broker a compromise, Senate negotiators proposed a package of socalled pay-fors that change the gas tax, tying it to inflation, while imposing similar, new charges on the owners of electric vehicles. Democrats have balked at the idea, arguing it violates Biden’s 2020 campaign promise.
The developments came as Senate Democrats prepared to chart their own course on trillions of dollars in additional spending on infrastructure.