Republicans are gasping at the $2.3 trillion price tag for President Joe Biden’s new infrastructure proposal. Still, it’s not enough for key liberal Democrats who want Congress to go much, much bigger.
House and Senate Democratic leaders are aiming for swift passage of the massive infrastructure proposal, named the American Jobs Plan. It would spend billions on new roads, bridges, waterways, and green energy initiatives to support electric cars and other provisions that would reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
“This plan charts a course for progress and opportunity for all Americans,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. “It will make a significant investment in broadband while also investing in long-neglected areas of our infrastructure, from clean water to schools, housing, and child care facilities to seniors and long-term care and veterans facilities.”
The House is already crafting an infrastructure package meant to dovetail with the Biden proposal. But the liberal wing of Pelosi’s caucus wants the House bill to go much further than Biden’s plan.
“We believe this package can and should be substantially larger in size and in scope,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairman Pramila Jayapal said this week.
Pelosi can hardly afford to ignore the 90 Democrats in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
House Democrats hold a mere three-seat majority and will likely have to pass the infrastructure bill nearly unanimously since GOP support will be close to zero.
Republicans are already lining up against the plan, not only for the size and cost but because Biden proposes to pay for it by hiking corporate taxes, which the GOP warns will crush economic growth.
“At the end of the day, this will be the biggest economic blunder, frankly, of our lifetimes,” Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, told Fox News.
Pelosi will be left with convincing everyone in her caucus to support the proposal, even though it leaves out trillions in spending that liberals are seeking in order to address “social infrastructure” issues that Biden may address in additional legislation.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken liberal from New York, said this week that Congress needs to spend significantly more to address jobs, infrastructure, and climate change.
“We’re talking about realistically $10 trillion over 10 years,” Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC.
While it’s an “eye-popping figure for some people,” Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged, even centrist Democrats, including West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, have backed the idea of spending up to $4 trillion.
Biden is expected to propose a second part to his infrastructure proposal to bring the total cost to $4 trillion. He’ll announce the American Families Plan in mid-April. It will include anti-poverty spending, free community college, healthcare initiatives, new direct cash payments for some families, paid leave for workers, universal child care coverage, and more.
Jayapal and others are hoping the House will pass the two plans together in one massive bill.
“Our preference is for a single, ambitious package that would include both physical infrastructure and care infrastructure,” Jayapal said. “These investments go hand in hand, and we need both to restore our economy and empower families.”
Pelosi on Thursday was unenthusiastic about Biden’s second bill, never mind combining it into the infrastructure measure.
She told reporters that many of the spending provisions Biden might propose in the second bill were included in a $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending package.
“We’ll see what the presentation is from the administration,” Pelosi said. “I’m certain we’ll have shared values. How it is prioritized and to the amount of funding remains to be seen.”
