President Biden pushes ahead with infrastructure package
Republicans have been trying to turn public sentiment against the American Jobs Plan by arguing about the cost of it, but the trick is rapidly beginning to show its age, with voters no longer buying the bait.
It turns out that the infrastructure plan is slightly more popular if voters hear the cost, but now the Biden White House is a step ahead of the Republicans and keeping them from trying this trick at all, by pushing the spending measures into a different bill that will pass with a simple majority vote on budget reconciliation – should current negotiations between the White House and Republican Sen. Shelly Moore Capito continue to move forward.
This gives Democrats all the leverage and leaves the Republicans with nothing to argue about. They can come to a bipartisan agreement when it comes to basic spending on bridges and roads, despite McConnell’s own vow to fight President Biden’s agenda every step of the way, or be associated with their refusal to pass the American Jobs Plan. What they can’t do is hold any part of the bill hostage in an all-or-nothing deal when it comes to paying for child care or eliminating the Trump tax cuts that protect the wealthy from paying their fair share.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making