It’s going to be expensive.
And big.
A controversial.
President Biden and the Congress Democrats are spending trillions of dollars on new spending for a comprehensive infrastructure plan.
While proponents view the proposal as a risky investment in the future, insults call it an expensive cousin of the Green New Deal.
One part of the plan is called the THRIVE Act. It stands for “Transform, heal and renew by investing in a vibrant economy.”
The THRIVE agenda will invest $ 1 trillion a year over the next ten years. So spent $ 4 trillion during the first term of the Biden-Harris government, ‘sen said. Ed Markey, D-Mass, said.
The amount of spending is causing many Republicans concern – after Congress suffered a whopping $ 6 billion pandemic response and relief over the past 13 months.
“Even after what we did last year, our national debt has become the size of our economy, which has not happened since World War II,” said M-McConnell, R-Ky.
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The Democratic plan extends far beyond conventional infrastructure, such as repairing or replacing deteriorating bridges and highways, taking into account climate change and other consequences.
“You can not separate the climate part of this vision, because every road we fix, every bridge we build, we can do in a way that is better for the climate or worse for the climate,” the transport minister said. , Pete Buttigieg, told CNN. “Why do we not want to create this work in a way that is better for the climate?”
The Democrats’ plan is also aimed at addressing social inequalities.
“If you can not have clean water, then you can not be free. If you do not have access to clean air, you can not be free. If you do not have a community to live in, it is “then you are not going to be free. If you do not have a dignified job. If you do not have basic health care,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, said.
Ed Markey says the plan will ‘fight systemic racism’ and ‘protect public health’. But Republicans are proposing the bill as something else.
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“This is a Biden and Nancy Pelosi wish list of liberal, left – wing agenda items. This is the Green New Deal. This is universal healthcare, all put together, at the expense of you and me,” said Rep. Kat Cammack said. , R-Fla., On Fox News.
Republicans accuse the Democrats of trying to advance liberal policy goals under the guise of a typical dual infrastructure law.
“This is a Trojan horse, designed to shift all sorts of progressive, left-wing agenda items through Congress under the protection of new roads and bridges,” former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Fox Business.
Biden has made it clear that the bill will raise taxes for large cooperatives and the rich.
“The responsible thing to do is to suggest over time a way to pay for it,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “He also believes that more can be done to justify the tax code.”
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Under the proposal, the corporate tax rate is likely to rise from 21 percent to 28 percent, which is estimated to increase $ 700 billion. Tax cuts introduced under former President Donald Trump would be wiped out, and the highest individual rate of nearly 40 percent for those earning more than $ 400,000 a year would be restored.
“The goal [of Democrats] is to bring the resources under the control of the government, “said one critic, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the US Action Forum and former director of the congressional budget.
Holtz-Eakin argues that the Democrats’ tactics are in the hands of “first elected officials and then the agencies to determine what they are doing in the economy”.
Democrats support the tax code reforms as long overdue.
“Infrastructure pays for itself,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Co-chair of the Progressive Caucus. “… But the goal is to make the tax system fair and just.”
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A long, drawn-out slogan on a massive infrastructure bill could reveal Democratic rifts – especially when dealing with narrow majorities in the House and Senate.
Democrats can only pass the bill if they stay together, but there are already signs of problems with moderates on the one hand and progressives on the other.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., for example, demanded an even more comprehensive infrastructure bill at a town hall meeting this week.
Approving the infrastructure bill will be very difficult. There was initially talk of bringing it to a vote before Memorial Day. Now July 4 is on the radar. A more realistic estimate is seven to eight months.
Pelosi declined to give a timeline and said this week that she will advance the package if it is ‘ready’.
The bill is perhaps the largest congress march since FDR’s New Deal programs in the 1930s. Democrats can only save three votes on their side and still pass the bill without GOP assistance in the House. The Senate is divided 50/50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting decisive votes.
Getting Democrats together is going to be a heavy lift. Reps Bill Pascrell, DN.J., Josh Gottheimer, DN.J., and Tom Suozzi, DN.Y., are already campaigning for the recovery of the state and local tax deduction (SALT). The Trump tax law limited the deductions in high-tax countries.
“New York and New Jersey are the largest net donors to the federal government and contribute more annually than we receive,” lawmakers said in a statement. “Therefore, we will not accept any changes to the tax code that restore the SALT reduction and put equity back into the system.”
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The task facing the Democrats is reminiscent of Obamacare in 2009 and 2010. The mechanics on the committees began in the spring of 2009. The House approved the first version of the bill in November 2009; the Senate on December 24th. The House and Senate only passed the final, unified version of the bill in March 2010.
This time, the Democrats may experience scientific fatigue. They scrapped six main bills to address the pandemic, which culminated in the $ 1.9 billion aid package a month ago.
This is the problem for Democrats: they can experience internal opposition from moderates if the bill is too big. If they pursue progressive policies, they lose liberals.
The possible solution is to scale down the package to old-fashioned infrastructure and to obtain dual support.
President Clinton burned his political capital too early in his term for a health care bill. President Obama did almost the same thing and passed on a stimulus package early in his term. Legislators already approved the adoption of the TARP bill to save the economy in the autumn of 2008. That is why the passing of Obamacare was such an epic lift.
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Even FDR has had trouble promoting the New Deal. Many of his loyalists in Congress sponsored other initiatives in the late 1930s.
“Presidents only have a limited amount of political capital. They can usually do one, two or maybe three things if they are happy. People start to get tired, especially if you spend a lot of money,” Darrell West said. of the Brookings Institution.
‘Members [of Congress] can only get a small number of tough votes. They may be willing to do the first and the second one. But in the end, it catches up with them. ‘