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Senate Republicans on Thursday proposed a $ 568 billion plan for federal infrastructure investment, well below the $ 2 billion spending level demanded by U.S. President Joe Biden, highlighting the difficult path to a compromise. bipartisan on a new package of economic measures.
The Republican offer is highly weighted in relation to traditional infrastructure projects, with $ 299 billion for roads and bridges, $ 65 billion for broadband, $ 61 billion for public transportation systems and $ 44 billion for airports .
On the contrary, the Plan of the White House seeks greater investment in research and development, grants for the manufacture and refurbishment of buildings, while devoting much more federal funding to the fight against climate change, a crucial element for many Democrats.
The Republican plan – led by West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito – does not include any corporate tax increase proposed by the White House, suggesting, instead, that the cost of the proposal should be covered by higher rates for users such as electric vehicles.
The Republican proposal comes after a meeting organized by Biden with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the White House, but it may not be enough to start a serious round of negotiations on the text.
Many Democrats and Biden administration officials have already warned that if they did not believe a Republican opening would fit the country’s needs, they would consider ways to pass their own infrastructure package without opposition support, using their meager majorities in both houses of Congress.
However, for this strategy to be successful, democratic support would have to be almost unanimous. It is expected to be a harder feat with the infrastructure bill of what was for the $ 1.9 million stimulus plan approved in March.
It is expected that the debate on infrastructure legislation will take center stage on Capitol Hill in the coming months. It is the second massive spending proposal driven by Biden since the initial stimulus plan and is designed to address the chronic underinvestment in public goods that has slowed the U.S. economy in recent decades according to US officials. White House.
Biden is also expected to announce a third major spending plan worth more than $ 1 billion next week, which will focus on child care and education and will be funded by the tax increase for rich people.
When they announced their infrastructure plan, Republicans urged the White House to consider it.
“This is a serious attempt to offer. . . the most robust plan we have ever presented as Republicans, “Capito told reporters Thursday.” And I think the American people want to see us work together. “
But Capitol Hill Democrats were already moving to fire him. Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate finance committee, and Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania senator, said it would “shift the tax burden on corporate infrastructure investment to the middle class.”
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