After Congress passed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the Biden administration and Democrats will sprint to the next priority: the infrastructure program. Biden campaigned on spending $2 trillion on infrastructure and clean energy, and while both parties agree on the importance of infrastructure, where the money will come from will cause a tug-of-war, plus there are murmurs within the Democratic Party that it won’t be that simple to pass.
President Joe Biden recently met with lawmakers from both parties, union representatives and government officials to discuss the contours of the infrastructure plan. Congressional Democrats expect that Biden will promote the infrastructure plan as soon as the stimulus bill is enacted.
It is unclear what the infrastructure bill might cover, but Biden campaigned on a $2 trillion plan to achieve “zero carbon power” by 2035 and to create millions of jobs that would meet the $15 hourly minimum wage.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a report last week that gave the U.S. infrastructure a “C-” rating and said the U.S. must spend $2.8 trillion over the next 10 years to upgrade roads and railroads, underscoring the importance of the U.S. government’s infrastructure upgrades.
There are murmurs in the Democratic Party
Both parties agree on the need to improve infrastructure, but have different views on the specifics and funding sources. Peter DeFazio, chairman of the Democratic House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said Congress could pass the infrastructure bill through the budget reconciliation process, which is similar to the $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus that was voted on in the Senate without the support of Republican lawmakers.
Congress needs at least 60 votes to pass the bill, and both parties currently hold 50 seats in the Senate, but through the reconciliation process and Vice President He Jinli’s tiebreaking vote, the bill was passed in the Senate.
However, there are differences between the progressive and moderate Democratic views on the infrastructure plan. For example, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, while advocating that the size of the infrastructure plan should be as much as $4 trillion, said he would not support any infrastructure legislation in the absence of Republican support.
Raymond James analyst Ed Mill said, “The specifics pay off, reflecting the potential problems that will be faced in the coming months.”
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