White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told Fox News Sunday (March 28) that the next phase of Biden‘s recovery from the Epidemic is infrastructure development, which the president will detail in a proposal this week.
This week, the American people will hear from him about part of his plan,” Psaki said. This is the first step in his recovery plan, which will include investment in infrastructure. We shouldn’t be ranked 13th in the world, and I don’t think anyone would believe that, this is the richest, most innovative country in the world.”
Psaki may be referring to the assessments of organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). These organizations gave the U.S. an overall grade of “D+” for infrastructure on their 2017 report card.
The Biden Administration noted that the infrastructure recovery package will focus on Biden’s climate change agenda. The agenda proposes to significantly reduce carbon emissions and address environmental “injustices. The cost of the bill would exceed $3 trillion, according to the New York Times.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, one of the original sponsors of the Green New Deal, said the upcoming infrastructure package includes many of the goals of the Green New Deal.
“This is a way to achieve many of the goals of the Green New Deal,” Markey told the Boston Globe. He would urge other lawmakers to “take bold strides to address the urgency of the current situation.”
Markey added, “The lesson I’ve learned is that climate issues need to be informed and included in every package of legislation, not put in separately.”
Last week, Republicans said they oppose the cost of the Biden administration’s infrastructure proposals. And they warned against removing the core priority of transportation infrastructure from the plan and focusing on climate change and the so-called “social justice agenda.
Rep. Sam Graves, R-Missouri, the top Republican on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, said Thursday (March 25), “I don’t think this bill should be developed into something that is trillions of dollars in size and all-encompassing.”
Graves said at a hearing where Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg talked about the administration’s priorities, “What the transportation bill needs to be is a transportation bill, not a ‘Green New Deal.’ It has to be about roads and bridges.”
Rep. John Katko, a New York Republican, told Buttigieg that the infrastructure package must have bipartisan support.
Katko said, “I just got back from a motorcycle ride – my first of the season – and I can reconfirm to you that our nation’s roads and bridges are clearly in bad shape. They need a lot of work.” “We can’t do it in a partisan way, because this issue is too big for us.”
Incoming Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis of New York summed up what she sees as, in her view, the Republican priorities on infrastructure.
Speaking to Fox News on March 25, she said, “From a Republican perspective, what we’re concerned about is what exactly they mean by ‘infrastructure. Because we don’t want this to be a Climate Change Act. We know that Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) is pushing this ‘Green New Deal. How much will this cost? How will we pay for it? I think those are our main concerns.”
The recent $1.9 trillion epidemic relief package was passed by a Democratic-led Congress along party lines, bypassing the Republicans.
When Psaki was asked if Biden had promised that he would enlist Republican support for the next package, the White House press secretary shot back that if Republican members cared about America’s infrastructure, they should have supported Biden’s proposal instead of asking Biden if he was willing to compromise on some of his priorities.
Psaki said, “Well, we haven’t finished the legislative strategy …… but I will say that I don’t think Republicans in this country think that we should be ranked 13th in the world when it comes to infrastructure. Roads, railroads, redevelopment, these are not partisan issues.” She said Democrats are still counting the cost issue, but “he (Biden) will come up with some way to pay for it, and he’s eager to hear bipartisan input.”
Meanwhile, Tina Fordham, director of global political strategy at Avonhurst, told NBC Business Monday (March 29) that Biden could pass this Infrastructure Bill without Republican support because he has broad public support.
Fordham said, “He has an opportunity to do something big, to advance his agenda of rebuilding and to really correct decades of chronic underinvestment in infrastructure and social safety nets in the United States.” “But I think the key is that they can do that without Republican support if they need to.”
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