Fate Of Infrastructure Deal Intertwined With Reconciliation Bill Featuring Health Care Funding
President Joe Biden joined a group of 10 senators at the White House Thursday to announce that a bipartisan agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package -- that includes water safety projects. But Biden said he would not sign any such legislation until Congress also passes a larger bill that allocates additional spending on "human infrastructure," such as education and health care.
The Wall Street Journal:
Biden, Senators Agree To Roughly $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
President Biden and a group of 10 centrist senators agreed to a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan Thursday, securing a long-sought bipartisan deal that lawmakers and the White House will now attempt to shepherd through Congress alongside a broader package sought by Democrats. Mr. Biden and Democratic leaders said that advancing the deal on transportation, water and broadband infrastructure will hinge on the passage of more elements of Mr. Biden’s $4 trillion economic agenda. The two-track process sets up weeks of delicate negotiations to gather support for both the bipartisan plan and a separate Democratic proposal, a challenging task in the 50-50 Senate and the narrowly Democratic-controlled House. (Duehren, Peterson and Siddiqui, 6/24)
The Washington Post:
Biden Announces Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal
The new spending includes $312 billion for transportation projects, $55 billion for water infrastructure and $65 billion for broadband — figures hashed out by the five Democrats and five Republicans who had negotiated for weeks on the package. That is nowhere near as sweeping as Biden’s own infrastructure measure, which he detailed in April, and it essentially ignores his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which focuses on social safety-net programs that Biden characterizes as “human infrastructure.” (Kim, DeBonis and Stein, 6/24)
The Hill:
Biden Says He Won't Sign Bipartisan Bill Without Reconciliation Bill
President Biden on Thursday said he won’t sign the bipartisan infrastructure deal if Congress doesn’t also pass a reconciliation bill, committing to a dual track system to get both bills passed. “I expect that in the coming months this summer, before the fiscal year is over, that we will have voted on this bill, the infrastructure bill, as well as voted on the budget resolution. But if only one comes to me, this is the only one that comes to me, I’m not signing it. It’s in tandem,” Biden told reporters at the White House. (Gangitano and Chalfant, 6/24)
NPR:
Here's What's In The Bipartisan Infrastructure Proposal
According to the White House, the price tag comes in at $1.2 trillion over eight years, with more than $500 billion in new spending. How the measure would be paid for was a central point in negotiations, with Republicans opposed to undoing any of the 2017 tax cuts. The plan "makes transformational and historic investments in clean transportation infrastructure, clean water infrastructure, universal broadband infrastructure, clean power infrastructure, remediation of legacy pollution, and resilience to the changing climate," said a White House fact sheet on the plan released Thursday. (Sprunt, 6/24)
USA Today:
Infrastructure Bill: What We Know About The Bipartisan Legislation
The Biden administration proposed increasing tax enforcement within the IRS, redirecting unused unemployment insurance relief funds, allowing states to sell or purchase unused toll credits for infrastructure and repurposing unused relief funds from 2020 emergency relief legislation, among other ideas to fund the deal. (Quarshie, 6/24)
