UPDATE The real work of finalizing an infrastructure package that can have widespread Democratic support on Capitol Hill is just beginning as the party must reckon with key differences on the scope and cost of the package — as well as GOP lawmakers offering their own alternative. The White House has invited key Republicans for discussions, but GOP senators introduced an infrastructure proposal Thursday that is a much smaller version of what President Joe Biden has suggested he wants.
Republican senators, led by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, unveiled a framework of their counter proposal, with a $600 billion price tag. That compares to the more than $2 trillion cost proposed by Biden. Aides familiar with the GOP proposal explained it’s meant to be an opening bid in a broader negotiation, not the final product, according to CNN.
Biden’s package includes $100 billion for broadband infrastructure while the “Republican Roadmap” focuses on more traditional infrastructure, with just $65 billion slated for broadband. Capito and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, told CNN the proposal would be fully paid for by user fees and other offsets and wouldn’t raise taxes, rejecting the president’s proposed corporate tax increases to pay for the package.
According to CNN, lawmakers acknowledge that significant concessions would have to be made on both sides to get anything passed through both houses of Congress.
Several Democrats panned the GOP plan, Politico reported. “It fails to meet the moment we’re in,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), who like some other Democratic senators, said it was “not a proposal I could support.”
But not all did. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a Biden ally, said he was encouraged by the proposal. “It strikes me as a serious attempt at providing a counteroffer that meets the general framework that I was hoping for.”
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