Biden introduced his infrastructure plan. How does he plan to get it through Congress?

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY
·10 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden called his infrastructure plan "bold" on Wednesday and insisted the massive piece of legislation is necessary.

"Put simply, these are investments we have to make," he said during a speech in Pittsburgh. "Put another way, we can't afford not to."

The White House has billed the sweeping proposal, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, as a domestic investment not seen in the U.S. since the construction of the interstate highways in the 1950s and the Space Race a decade later.

The $2 trillion plan aims to rebuild the nation's aging infrastructure, support electric vehicles and clean energy, and boost access to caregivers and their pay.

More: Biden to propose $2 trillion infrastructure, jobs plan funded by corporate tax hike

Now that Biden's unveiled his infrastructure bill, it faces the grueling process of chugging its way through both chambers of Congress.

"We'd like to see progress by Memorial Day," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. "We'd like to see the package approved by the summer."

How will Biden pass it? Here's what's next for a legislative push and its chances of making its way back to the president's desk:

What's the timeline in the House?

House Democrats are expected to push for a vote on the massive plan in a couple of months.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Democratic Caucus on Monday that her goal is to pass the massive legislation by the Fourth of July, per sources familiar.

But she admitted that it could realistically slip later into July.

And while Democrats hold a majority in the House — 219-211 — it is a slim one.

With an eight-vote margin, Democrats can only afford to lose three votes from their side of the aisle to pass the infrastructure plan if no Republicans support it.

What about the gridlocked Senate?

Unlike other pieces of legislation the House has passed but are currently piling up in the Senate, the infrastructure plan may have to take a different route to Biden's desk.

Usually, the Senate needs 60 votes to surpass the filibuster, meaning 10 Republicans need to join every Democrat and the independents who caucus with Democrats to pass legislation.

But Schumer aides hinted that the Senate Majority Leader is eyeing using a budget process to pass Biden's infrastructure plan with a simple majority, or 51 votes.

More: Fight over filibuster heats up as Democrats and Republicans clash over voting rights

Budget reconciliation allows them to skip the major procedural roadblocks on items related to the budget.

The Senate is tied 50-50, and Vice President Kamala Harris would be able to break the tie.

Congress used budget reconciliation to pass Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in March without any Republican votes.

However, it has specific constraints on what can be in the legislation. It can also turn into a grueling process, such as the two voting marathons in the Senate during which any senator can force a vote on an amendment.

These "vote-a-ramas" can go on for hours, requiring senators to be on the Senate floor. The most recent vote-a-rama, during the passage of the American Rescue Plan lasted nearly 24 hours.

Schumer aides have been talking to the Senate's parliamentarian about whether they again can use the 2021 budget resolution. Senators usually just use one opportunity to pass a budget resolution for fiscal year, and this was the same used for the stimulus package.

Leadership is arguing they can use a provision in the Congressional Budget Act to offer a "concurrent resolution" — which would grant Democrats another chance at reconciliation instructions.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y,. wants to maximize the options and expand on multiple pathways to advance Biden’s "Build Back Better" agenda if Republicans attempt to block legislation, according to aides.

What's in Biden's the infrastructure plan?

The American Jobs Plan would allocate $621 billion to transportation infrastructure and resilience, including the repair and construction of roads, bridges, transit and rail service.

That includes $115 billion to modernize 20,000 miles of roads, fix the 10 most "economically significant" bridges in the USA and repair 10,000 smaller bridges in poor condition.

More: Joe Biden wants to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure and jobs. These 4 charts show where the money would go.

An additional $213 billion in the plan would go toward retrofitting and building more than 2 million affordable homes and commercial properties, and $111 billion would replace all the nation's lead pipes and service lines and upgrade drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems.

Aiming to make the country more competitive against China and other nations, the plan would pump $180 billion into research and development in technology and climate science.

This includes $50 billion for the National Science Foundation to invest in new technology, $40 billion to upgrade outdated research labs, $35 billion to build technology to address the climate crisis and $10 billion for research centers at historically Black colleges and universities.

To pay for the sweeping package, Biden wants to raise taxes on corporations to pay for the eight-year spending package. He proposed increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% – raising the level set in former President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts – and overhauling how the United States taxes multinational corporations by increasing the minimum tax on U.S. corporations to 21%.

Under the tax hikes and other changes – eliminating tax loopholes for intellectual property and denying companies deductions for offshoring jobs, for example – the White House projects the eight years of spending would be fully paid in 15 years and reduce deficits in the years after.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
Update your settings here to see it.

Will it get bipartisan support?

Biden faces a giant test politically in finding Republican support in Congress for the package, though infrastructure generally has widespread bipartisan support.

Before Biden even offered specifics of his aims to fix the nation's roads, bridges and railways, Republicans in Congress panned it, claiming it goes too far beyond traditional infrastructure spending and comparing its climate aspects to the Green New Deal.

Republicans also balked at raising taxes — long a sticking point for Republicans to get behind big-ticket Democratic programs.

More: Biden is pitching a big infrastructure plan, but Republicans already panned it as going too far

Despite the resistance from the start, Biden said Wednesday he is "going to bring Republicans into the Oval Office; listen to them, what they have to say; and be open to other ideas. We’ll have a good-faith negotiation with any Republican who wants to help get this done. But we have to get it done."

During his speech, Biden touted times in history "infrastructure had been a bipartisan undertaking, many times led by Republicans."

"And I don’t think you’ll find a Republican today in the House or Senate — maybe I’m wrong, gentlemen — who doesn’t think we have to improve our infrastructure. They know China and other countries are eating our lunch. So there’s no reason why it can’t be bipartisan again."

The Republican blowback prompted White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain to pledge Thursday they are prepared to move forward without GOP support if both sides cannot reach a deal.

Biden convened his first Cabinet meeting of his administration Thursday and deputized key Cabinet members, including the Labor, Transportation and Housing secretaries, to begin working with Congress and start explaining his jobs plan to the American public.

Reaction to the plan

Reaction to the infrastructure plan has varied, mostly guided by partisan politics.

Biden touted the legislation, saying, “If we act now, in 50 years people will look back and say this was the moment America won the future.”

A Democratic aide from a frontline office told USA TODAY that reaction from moderates in the caucus was "good" but noted they have a long road ahead without strict deadlines "pushing us to pass something fast."

"Moderates ran on infrastructure, so we are all for a robust investment," the aide said. But the "devil is in the details," and the House needs to quickly hammer these out before they can gage solid feelings regarding it in terms of voting.

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., chairman of the House Committee on the Budget, called the plan visionary and praised it for modernizing "our failing infrastructure," creating "good-paying jobs" and taking on "climate change with the urgency this crisis demand."

"With this proposal, we can transform our country and create a better future for all American families," he said.

Progressives also applauded the plan, but challenged the Biden administration to go even bigger.

Appearing on MSNBC Wednesday night after Biden's speech, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said the $2.5 trillion is a starting point for progressives in the House and is encouraging, but she called for $10 trillion over 10 years.

She continued she has "serious concerns it is not enough to realize the very inspiring vision that Biden has advanced."

Republicans have made it clear they are interested in an infrastructure plan, but say it needs to be smaller and more focused.

Several have accused the White House of ignoring Republican input.

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., told USA TODAY that he knows "we need to update our infrastructure" but this plan "must be targeted towards road and bridges, and not used as a vehicle for irrelevant liberal policies that raise taxes on America's job creators and their families."

Braun said Biden is refusing "to work with Republicans, yet again" and instead using a " 'my way or the highway' approach towards running Washington."

Similarly, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, tweeted that an "evenly split" Senate and a "bare Democratic House majority are hardly a mandate to 'go it alone.' "

"The President should live up to the bipartisanship he preached in his inaugural address."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
Update your settings here to see it.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the No.3 House Republican, tweeted the package should "be a nonstarter in Congress" and "would result in the largest tax increase in American history to pay for Green New Deal spending."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
Update your settings here to see it.

"This apparently is not going to be an infrastructure package," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who spoke to Biden Tuesday, said shortly after its release. The Republican called it a Trojan horse for borrowed money, debt and tax increases on "the most productive parts of our economy."

He slammed it as a "major missed opportunity."

Thursday, McConnell went a step further, saying the plan "is not going to get support from our side."

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the lead Republican on one of the panels working on infrastructure legislation, said there are ongoing negotiations but panned Biden's plan a "clear attempt to transform the economy by advancing progressive priorities."

Contributing: Joey Garrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden infrastructure plan: How he plans to get it through Congress

Recommended Stories

  • 5 Takeaways About Biden’s $2.25 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

    Here’s a roundup of some initial reaction to and analysis of Biden’s $2.25 trillion plan. Critics find plenty to dislike: “While there’s widespread support across the political aisle to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure, critics of Biden’s plan ― and even some of its supporters ― have raised questions whether all the spending in the plan is truly needed, whether the tax increases on corporations are excessive and why the White House is using an unusual accounting approach to capture the deficit impact,” The Washington Post’s Heather Long writes. Biden is making a big bet on the benefits of tackling climate change: The president is trying to make the case that fighting climate change can create jobs, not destroy them. “For decades, Democrats have insisted ‘jobs versus the environment’ is a false choice. But in the scale of his proposal and the audacity of his promises, Mr. Biden may be laying his political future on that idea,” The New York Times reports. “He faces a lot of skepticism.” Union leaders, the Times adds, “are skeptical that the well-paying union jobs the president promises will materialize, noting that, so far, the ecosystem of manufacturers, contractors and utility developers that has grown up around the green economy has often been low-paying and hostile to unions.” And he’s challenging GOP orthodoxy on taxes and economic growth: The 2017 Republican tax cuts were based on the argument that lowering taxes on businesses would spur investment and job creation. But gross domestic product grew at a 2.4% rate in the two years before the tax overhaul and 2.4% in the two years after, writes Patricia Cohen of The New York Times. “By contrast,” Cohen says, “the animating idea behind the tax plan put forward by the Biden administration on Wednesday is that the best way to increase America’s competitiveness and foster economic growth is to raise corporate taxes to finance huge investments in transportation, broadband, utilities and more. … By shifting the tax burden, the Biden administration is saying corporations — among the biggest winners the last time around — should pick up more of the tab this time.” Not surprisingly, that’s drawn strong opposition from the business community. “We strongly oppose the general tax increases proposed by the administration, which will slow the economic recovery and make the U.S. less competitive globally — the exact opposite of the goals of the infrastructure plan,” Neil Bradley, chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement Wednesday. He’s also taking sides in a Democratic Party argument: In announcing his infrastructure plan Wednesday, Biden said he wants to build from the “middle out.” Bloomberg Businessweek’s Peter Coy explains that the phrase is more than just a rhetorical flourish. Biden, he says, “was taking sides in a long-running argument inside the Democratic Party. He was siding with the populist, liberal wing of the party and implicitly distancing himself from the low-tax, pro-business wing associated with former Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, among others.” The phrase, Coy explains, was coined by Nick Hanauer, a wealthy entrepreneur and venture capitalist who now advocates for liberal causes, and it indicates an economic approach focused on building a prosperous middle class in order to juice broad-based growth. “It’s the left’s alternative to top-down, or trickle-down economics, which is based on the concept that cutting taxes and reducing regulation on the rich will unleash their entrepreneurial energies and benefit all,” Coy writes. And Biden’s use of the term is another indication that while he has long been seen as a centrist, he’s taking a more progressive approach to the economy than Bill Clinton or Barack Obama did. “The Biden administration is the first administration in my lifetime to actually believe that the neoliberal framework is wrong and to advance a counter-narrative and new agenda,” Hanauer tells Coy. “It’s incredibly exciting and will lead to ridiculous prosperity for everyone.” Tax hikes on the rich are popular. Corporate tax hikes less so: A Morning Consult/Politico poll released Wednesday found that more than half of voters support tax hikes to fund infrastructure spending — and voters by a two-to-one margin prefer infrastructure improvements paired with tax increases on the rich and corporations to those without tax hikes. But the tax hikes on individuals earning more than $400,000 a year and those on corporations aren’t seen the same, with a 10 percentage point drop in support for the business taxes. The survey of 2,043 registered voters was conducted March 26 to 29 and has a margin of error of 2 points. Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter.

  • What Joe Biden’s $2.2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan May Mean To Media: “Broadband For All,” But A Rise In Corporate Tax Rates

    Joe Biden unveiled a $2 trillion infrastructure plan on Wednesday that includes a call for “broadband for all,” comparing the need for affordable, high speed internet service to the New Deal era electrification of much of the country in the 1930s. But it also includes a significant boost in corporate tax rates to 28%, less […]

  • Writing of infrastructure bill to take place in May, Pelosi says

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House say May will likely be a critical month on Capitol Hill for President Joe Biden's sweeping infrastructure and corporate tax hike plan.

  • Saudi Aramco role in private investment drive guided by business not state, says CEO

    Saudi Aramco will set strict business criteria for ventures it backs under a new private partnership initiative to help diversify the kingdom's oil-reliant economy and was not being pushed into projects by the state, the CEO said. His comments in an interview on Wednesday came a day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the new Shareek (Partner) initiative, in which the state-controlled oil giant and petrochemical firm SABIC would lead private sector investments worth 5 trillion riyals ($1.3 trillion) by 2030. "You can look at Shareek as a catalyst in making Saudi Arabia even more compelling as an investment destination for both local and foreign investors," Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser told Reuters.

  • U.S. House tax chief offers partial support for Biden infrastructure tax plan

    U.S. Representative Richard Neal, the top Democrat for tax policy in the House, offered only partial support on Thursday for President Joe Biden's plan to finance his $2 trillion infrastructure plan by raising taxes on corporations. Neal, who chairs the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he is insisting that other funding measures such as bonds and expanded tax credits be included in the legislation that he expects his panel to begin writing within four to six weeks.

  • Biden to unveil his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. How would it be funded?

    The president is set to give remarks about the plan Wednesday.

  • AMC Entertainment to seek investor approval for 500 million shares sale, CEO tells CNBC

    A share sale could help AMC shore up its finances that have been hit by pandemic-related closures and delays in the launch of big movies as well as the growth of online entertainment providers. AMC said in January that it had raised $917 million since mid-December through equity and debt issues.

  • Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 shot 91% effective in updated data, protective against South African variant

    Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said on Thursday their vaccine is around 91% effective at preventing COVID-19, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months. The shot also showed early signs of preventing disease in a small subset of study volunteers in South Africa, where a concerning new variant called B.1.351 is circulating. Although lower than the stunning 95% efficacy result reported from its 44,000-person clinical trial in November, overall efficacy of 91.3% shows the vaccine to be a powerful tool against an evolving virus.

  • Rep. Matt Gaetz reportedly showed nude photos of women to lawmakers and bragged about his sexual exploits

    CNN reported that Gaetz showed lawmakers, both in private and on the House floor, nude photos of women he said he slept with.

  • I was a 'Law & Order: SVU' superfan. Then my views on the police changed.

    The deaths of Michael Brown, George Floyd, and others, as well as my growing interest in prison abolition, have changed how I view the crime drama.

  • Physical therapist accused of sexual assault during massage at Carrollton hospital

    A Denton County grand jury returned an indictment this week against the physical therapist in the 2019 incident.

  • Blue Jays beat Yankees 3-2 in 10th inning as fans return

    Julian Merryweather had to get used to fans in the stands, having debuted last summer in an empty ballpark. The Toronto Blue Jays turned Yankee Stadium as silent as it was during a 2020 season played without fans. Randal Grichuk led off the 10th with an RBI double, Merryweather struck out the side on 11 pitches in the bottom half, and the Blue Jays took advantage of the second year of COVID-era rule starting starting extra innings with a runner on to beat New York 3-2 Thursday in the major league opener.

  • Michigan CEO Led Double Life as Drug Lord With Plans for a Cocaine Submarine, Feds Say

    FacebookA high-flying Michigan telecommunications executive led a double life as the financier of a sprawling international drug ring, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. Among his alleged secrets: plans for “the Torpedo,” a parasitic submarine meant to haul clandestine cocaine across the globe.Marty Tibbitts was the CEO of Clementine Live Answering Service, but he often went by the generic code name “Dale Johnson” in communications related to his work as a drug trafficker, prosecutors say. He was killed at age 50 in a plane crash in 2018. An aviation buff with the pockets to prove it, he founded the World Heritage Aviation Museum in Detroit. He died when the vintage fighter jet he was piloting nosedived into a dairy barn in Wisconsin, taking 50 cows with him.The details of Tibbitts’ double life emerged as part of a federal indictment against Ylli Didani, the 43-year-old alleged leader of the worldwide drug ring, on charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances on a boat in U.S. jurisdiction, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and money laundering. Didani was arrested in North Carolina this week. His cartel allegedly sold cocaine in 15 countries.The two were allegedly at work together on “the torpedo,” a remote-controlled submarine that would attach to the hulls of cargo ships via strong magnets. They planned to stuff the sub with cocaine, track it via GPS, and detach it from the host up to 100 miles off European shores, prosecutors say. A fishing boat would then retrieve the underwater drone and its contents.Tibbitts and Didani allegedly paid an unidentified company $12,000 to develop the submarine via cryptocurrency and wires from an Albanian bank account. The company, authorities said, was unaware of what the “underwater hull scrubber device” was meant for.The Michigan CEO bankrolled Didani’s operation, according to federal authorities, and the investigation that would detail his involvement began in 2015. In 2016, he is said to have issued a check for $864,000 to the cartel, which authorities believe was cashed at a pawn shop or gold exchange business. Later he would fly by private plane to Washington, D.C. to give Didani $350,000 in the dead of night. In all, he would provide the cartel more than $1.8 million, the indictment says.But Tibbitts’ death scrapped plans for the Torpedo and sent the organization into a spiral, with Didani flying to half a dozen countries in search of new financing, which he allegedly found in the UAE. Investigators were already closing in, though. August 2019 saw Dutch authorities seize 753 kilograms of cocaine hidden among bananas from the cartel in Rotterdam; likewise, in February 2020 Dutch police nabbed 644 kilos in duffel bags following a tip from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.Tibbits’ neighbors expressed incredulity at the description of him as a gadget-happy drug lord in interviews with The Detroit News. He lived on Lake St. Clair in Grosse Point Park, Michigan in a 12,000 square-foot house listed for $6.4 million that belonged to a former saxophone player in the Silver Bullet Band.“I think anybody who would hear something like this would be shocked,” a neighbor named Ari Buchanan told the paper.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • How to use apple cider vinegar to help you lose weight, according to dietitians

    While apple cider vinegar won't help you shed substantial pounds, it could assist with weight loss coupled with a healthy diet and exercise program.

  • Williams had seven seasons left on his UNC contract. It never mentions retirement.

    Williams signed a contract extension in 2018.

  • Trump's post-presidency is reportedly plagued by infighting and grifting

    In the months since former President Donald Trump departed the White House, something of a "cold war" has erupted in his orbit among "competing factions that are seeking to capitalize on their time with" him, a new Politico report describes. The report details how, as one former senior administration official put it, people in Trump's orbit who "didn't like each other four months ago" now "all have a common interest: how to get some coin out of the Trump post-presidency." In fact, Trump himself has reportedly been warned by his allies that he's currently surrounded by people who are all "singularly focused on enriching themselves," Politico writes. "They're competing for his money," a former senior administration official told Politico. "I've told the president, 'You need to be cognizant of this.'" For example, there was reportedly a bit of a "whodunit" among officials when someone appeared to possibly abuse a confidential donor list, to the point that there had to be a warning sent out that anyone who misuses campaign resources could face prosecution. Former aides and advisers have also accused one another of "overstating" their access to the former president in an attempt to land clients, suggesting to campaigns that hiring them might help get them a Trump endorsement, and they're also all "squabbling" for access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Politico says. Trump spokesperson Jason Miller disputed this characterization of an environment Politico compared to Lord of the Flies, arguing that actually, there's currently "the least amount of ally competition or conflict at this point than I've ever seen," since the former president's orbit now consists only of "true believers." Read more at Politico. More stories from theweek.comThe Matt Gaetz allegations show how QAnon corrupts its followersGeorge Floyd's girlfriend, paramedics testify in Chauvin trialMatt Gaetz, trying to prove his extortion claims, shares salacious new details of the DOJ's case against him

  • Oil companies defeat New York City appeal over global warming

    NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected New York City's effort to hold five major oil companies liable to help pay the costs of addressing harm caused by global warming. Ruling in favor of BP Plc, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed under federal law and international treaties. It rejected the city's efforts to sue under state nuisance law for damages caused by the companies' "admittedly legal" production and sale of fossil fuels, and said the city's federal common law claims were displaced by the federal Clean Air Act.

  • Dodgers outfielder has home run called back because his teammate had no idea what was happening

    Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger hit a home run that turned into an out because his Justin Turner got confused

  • The US Army struck a deal worth up to $22 billion with Microsoft for these futuristic headsets soldiers will wear in combat

    The high-tech heads-up displays are like something out of Iron Man and give soldiers access to a lot of augmented reality and digital tools.

  • Italy approves new decree to keep cruise ships out of Venice lagoon

    Italy's government has ruled that large cruise ships and container vessels must not pass close to Venice's historic centre and should instead dock in a different location to preserve the famed lagoon. A decree approved late on Wednesday called for public consultations on building a terminal outside the lagoon where passenger vessels over 40,000 tons and container ships can berth without passing in front of Saint Mark's square. "Anyone who has visited Venice in recent years has been shocked to see these ships, hundreds of metres long and as tall as apartment buildings, passing through such fragile places," Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said on Thursday.