Ten lawmakers from the two main US parties today announced a proposed agreement on a “realistic” infrastructure plan after talks between the president failed. Joe Biden and Republican legislators.
The deal, significantly less ambitious than the original $2.3 trillion, “will be paid for in full and will not include tax increases,” five Democrats and five Republicans said in a brief statement.
“Our group… has acted in good faith and reached a bipartisan agreement on a realistic commitment framework to modernize our country’s energy infrastructure and technologies,” he said.
Details of the plan are missing from the statement, suggesting that there are doubts about whether its current form will be approved by both sides and the White House.
US media outlets, citing sources close to the deal, reported that it reached $1.2 trillion in eight years, with $579 billion in new spending, with no new business or income tax created.
The puzzle of paying for improvements to highways, bridges, ports, pipelines and Internet connections, proposed soon after a huge outlay to revamp an economy ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, is one of the first in talks between Biden and Republicans. was the important point. , led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito.
Biden proposed an increase in corporate taxes from 21% to 28% to help pay for infrastructure spending. He then said that he would be open to amendment.
Republicans reaffirmed their opposition to any tax changes.
The new group, which includes Republican senators Mitt Romney and Rob Portman and Democrats Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinemas, said it is discussing its approach with allies in the White House and Congress.
Ten is “optimistic that it will be possible to gain broad support from both sides and lay the groundwork to meet the infrastructure needs of the United States,” he said.
Proposals to fund this package include subsuming the gasoline tax into inflation and employing an untapped emergency health relief fund.
A plan to tax gasoline risks being rejected by Biden, who has insisted he doesn’t want to raise taxes on people earning less than $400,000 a year.
