Bipartisan House Group Unveils Infrastructure Proposal
A group of bipartisan House members have introduced an infrastructure proposal as talks between President Biden and a group of GOP members comes to a close.
According to an article by Emily Cochrane for The New York Times, the so-called Problem Solvers Causes, comprised of 29 Democrats and 29 Republicans from the House of Representatives, proposed a “plan for $761.8 billion in new spending, as a part of an overall amount of $1.249 trillion over the next eight years.”
This comes just hours after President Biden ceased meetings he had been having with a group of GOP leaders, including Senator Shelley Moore Capito. The meetings were held in the hopes of coming to a bipartisan compromise regarding the American Jobs Plan. While ultimately unable to produce a definitive agreement, the meetings did spur different infrastructure proposals, both from the GOP and President Biden.
While both parties recognized the need for infrastructure funding, the areas of disagreement stemmed from the the terms and figures of the plan, particularly what was considered “infrastructure” and how the plan would be funded. President Biden had been looking to raise corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy to fund the plan, which GOP leaders were firmly against.
According to that same article by Cochrane, “while the plan outlines funding pots for highways, roads, waterways, broadband, airports and veterans’ housing, it does not address how to pay for the legislation — one of the biggest hurdles that has long prevented agreements on infrastructure in the past.”
In order to pass, it will need to garner all Democratic support in the Senate and nearly all Democratic support in the House.
