WASHINGTON – Even before gaining his first major legislative priority, President Joe Biden is setting the stage for his second: an even bigger spending plan that the White House calls the infrastructure package that both parties have long sought.
Although any final votes on the course of a Covid-19 relief package are still at least a few weeks away, Biden has already begun to enchant Republicans about its infrastructure, which is likely to be the focus of a historically late first speech to the Congress, probably sometime in March. But even as he advocates Republican support, White House officials have already begun discussing the possibility of continuing without it, just as Democrats appear ready to deal with pandemic relief.
Biden welcomed a dual group of senators to the Oval Office on Thursday for a discussion on what the White House described as “the critical need to invest in modern and sustainable U.S. infrastructure.”
Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla., One of the participants, calls it a ‘very good’ conversation, but warns Democrats about overrun.
“If you’re working on infrastructure, it’s a high dollar thing,” he said. “And I just do not want them to put their agenda on something else just to try to hold it hostage.”
A new legislative push would set up another test of whether Biden’s desire to move forward quickly with important campaign promises is at the expense of his goal of working across the aisle where possible.
Dual cooperation on Capitol Hill is already rare. Biden met with the Republicans during the accusation hearing of his predecessor, who according to Biden officials fears it has already poisoned the atmosphere for good marriage negotiations, even though Biden did his best to prevent it.
Biden outlined an infrastructure plan worth more than $ 2 trillion during the presidential campaign, saying it would be the ‘largest mobilization of public investment since World War II’. The plan and a similar framework passed by the Democratic House during the last Congress are the basis of what Biden will propose.
In addition to just repairs or new construction of roads and bridges, the plan has expanded broad access to broadband, as well as an ambitious climate agenda.
“We are looking at a much broader definition of infrastructure going forward than was the use of the past,” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, DS.C., a top Biden ally, said in an interview.
Officials hope to pass the $ 1.9 billion Covid-19 aid plan, combined with progress in increasing the distribution of vaccines, will help build momentum for further economic stimulation, which Biden said in a prime speech to the Congress would sell and what could be his biggest post-inauguration. heard.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Thursday that the address will wait until the pandemic bill is passed, meaning Biden’s first speech to Congress is the latest by a first-year president since the inauguration from March to January in 1937. .
“This is the first case,” she said.
The infrastructure effort would be a pivot from the “rescue” mode to an ambitious blueprint to modernize the US infrastructure and put the economy on a safer footing.
“The President and many Democrats and Republicans in Congress believe that … building infrastructure that is in our national interests, that boosts the U.S. economy, creates well-paid unions here in America and our climate and our promoting clean energy goals is something we can definitely work on working together, “White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said this week.
The White House is also prepared to sell the recovery package as part of the government’s foreign policy strategy, especially its efforts to challenge China.
A senior administration official said Biden’s approach to China depends primarily on the ability of the US to strengthen its economic base, in particular to ensure we make the public investment needed to get stronger from the other side of this economic crisis to come and maintain. our innovation lead and to rebuild our industrial base. ‘
In his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday night, Biden told lawmakers on Thursday: “If we do not move, they will eat our lunch. They are investing billions of dollars in dealing with a whole range of transport issues. and the environment and a whole range of other things, so we just have to act. ‘
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Biden’s so-called Build Back Better agenda was also a key focus during his meeting this week with some of the country’s leading business leaders, as the White House works to build dual support from outside Washington in light of what he still expects. ‘ will be an uphill battle. to win the support of Republicans in Congress.
Democrats expect every new major spending measure they place on the floor to go through the reconciliation process again to avoid a Senate subsidiary, and they support Republican attacks at the expected price.
“I talk to my former colleagues all the time. They remind me that the issue is not building infrastructure. The issue is who pays for it,” former representative Steve Israel, DN.Y.
When Biden announced this in July, he said his infrastructure plan would double as an aggressive effort to combat climate change – the kind of formation Republicans like Inhofe are likely to challenge.
One of the initiatives that put Biden most on the campaign was to add hundreds of thousands of electric vehicle charging stations across the country as part of a massive addition of federal cash to speed up the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy, a critical part of its goal was to achieve 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 and completely destroy US greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Biden’s campaign proposal also called for billions to be spent on modernizing schools and defending private and public housing, and on repairing the motorway, roads and bridges quickly, as well as a well-known Biden priority – a national high-speed high-speed network – which is quickly known. what he said would be the ‘second major railway revolution’.
Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg, who virtually joined the Oval Office meeting, is expected to play a key role in advancing Biden’s plan before and possibly after its implementation to highlight its benefits.
Josh Lederman and Julie Tsirkin contributed.