Democratic leaders scrambled to shore up support for President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion spending bill framework among party factions as they sought to finally vote on that, plus the bipartisan infrastructure package, before the President arrived in Europe last night.
Progressive Democrats said they wanted to see the actual text and also wanted assurances it could pass the 50-50 Senate. Some called for a Senate vote first on the final text, which may not be ready for days, according to Roll Call. House leaders posted an initial nearly 2,000-page draft yesterday afternoon.
During a press briefing yesterday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called aspects of President Biden’s spending bill “generational change” and likened it to the social service spending not seen since the terms of President Franklin Roosevelt.
President Joe Biden briefed Democrats on a framework for a spending plan yesterday morning. Speaking about the bipartisan infrastructure bill that includes $65 billion in broadband deployment grants, he said in an address to the nation, the measure creates “jobs making high-speed internet affordable and available everywhere in rural and urban America, particularly including the 35 percent of rural America that currently goes without it right now.”
Biden explained: “This pandemic has made clear the need for affordable and available high-speed internet. The idea of a parent having to put their kids in the car for virtual learning, drive and sit in the McDonald’s parking lot so that their child can access the internet when school is taught virtually is not only unnecessary, it’s just wrong. It’s wrong.”
The Wireless Infrastructure Association was glad to see the inclusion of sector-based training and registered apprenticeship funding in the President’s spending “Build Back Better” framework. “The proposed funding increase for workforce development over the next five years, including sector-based training which WIA supports in telecommunications, will help recruit and retain telecommunications workers for good-paying careers in our high-growth industry,” stated WIA President/CEO Jonathan Adelstein.
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