‘We have a deal’: Biden reaches $1.2 trillion infrastructure compromise with bipartisan group of senators
- The deal made with 11 Republican and 10 Democratic senators breaks a long stalemate.
- The bill will need 60 votes to pass the Senate to overcome a filibuster.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of 21 senators reached a compromise Thursday to modernize the nation’s deteriorating transportation and public works systems, putting the president on track to pass the first plank of his sweeping infrastructure agenda.
Biden announced the breakthrough after a 30-minute meeting with the senators in the Oval Office, ending a weeks-long stalemate over the price tag and how to pay for what would be the largest transportation package ever approved by Congress.
The $1.2 trillion plan includes $579 billion in new spending and focuses only on physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, rail, broadband internet, water and sewer pipes, and electric vehicles. It proposes several ways to pay for the spending that avoid a gas tax increase that Biden resisted and a corporate tax hike that Republicans opposed.
$1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal gaining steam on Capitol Hill
The proposal, with bipartisan support and the backing of Biden, is likely to pass, even in a bitterly divided Congress. With the backing of 11 Republican senators and 10 moderate Democrats, the infrastructure bill would surpass the 60 votes required to overcome a filibuster if all Senate Democrats vote for it.
home caregiving, climate change, prekindergarten and free community college proposals — “human infrastructure” components that Republicans oppose. He will have to rely on a legislative maneuver called reconciliation, which would allow Democrats to approve the bill with a simple majority in the 50-50 Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris can break ties.
“We’ll try to get some compromise there, and if we can’t, I’ll see if I can attract all the Democrats into a position,” Biden said. “They’re going to move on a dual track.”
From the beginning of negotiations, Republicans didn’t budge from their position that a bipartisan deal stick only to physical infrastructure and avoid tax increases that targeted corporations and the wealthy.
“We didn’t get everything we wanted,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, one of the group’s lead negotiators, but said the parties came together on a “core infrastructure package” without adding new taxes. “And with the commitment of Republican and Democrats alike that we’re going to get this across the finish line.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a key moderate swing vote, said the deal “meets the needs of the country for the 21st century.” Manchin’s vote will be critical for Democrats to pass Biden’s climate change and family agendas through reconciliation. He wouldn’t commit to supporting the reconciliation package but said he’s committed to “working on it.”
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats hope to have votes on both bills in the Democratic-controlled House and the Senate in July before Congress departs for its summer recess.
“One can’t be done without the other,” Schumer said. “We can’t get the bipartisan bill done unless we’re sure we’re getting the budget reconciliation bill done.”
Appeasing progressive Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured her fellow Democrats that the House won’t take up the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the Senate sends over a bill focusing on Biden’s “human infrastructure.”
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A new bipartisan effort
The bipartisan Senate talks started after Biden ended previous negotiations with Republican Senate committee leaders who had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Although Biden’s trimmed-down infrastructure proposal earned him support from Republicans — delivering on a campaign commitment to seek bipartisanship — he’s gotten pushback from progressives, particularly climate advocates. They fear moderate Democrats won’t vote for a reconciliation package now that they claim a bipartisan win on infrastructure.
Lauren Maunus, advocacy director for Sunrise Movement, a youth-led environmental organization, said “we can’t afford to kick the can down the road any further” on climate-change initiatives. She called Biden’s first proposal “already the compromise,” arguing $1 trillion a year is needed to fight the climate crisis.
“When Democrats agree to water it down more, they’re condemning Americans to untold devastation,” she said. “We demand no climate, no deal.”
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The 10 Senate Democratic caucus members who support the infrastructure deal are Manchin, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Jon Tester of Montana, Mark Warner of Virginia, Chris Coons of Delaware, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and John Hickenlooper of Colorado. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, also endorsed the plan.
The 11 Republicans are: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Todd Young of Indiana and Jerry Moran of Kansas.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.