Congressional and White House negotiations over legislation can often be a slightly mysterious process.
But the speed in which the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal went from done to undone then back to done this past weekend was one of the more unusual negotiating seesaws, even by Washington standards.
Democrats and Republicans have been squabbling for weeks over how big of an investment in this nation’s highways, bridges, rail lines and other transportation infrastructure is big enough. Not surprisingly, the Democrats have been wanting to spend much more than the Republicans.
Last Thursday, Senate negotiators from both parties hammered out a compromise that had President Joe Biden’s blessing, only to start unraveling the next day when the president suggested he would veto the bill if it didn’t include a much larger companion measure that’s euphemistically being called “infrastructure,” even though it’s really about dramatically expanding social programs.
Biden quickly walked back his threat, acknowledging why Republicans might think he was already reneging on the deal, and now the president is launching a selling job that he hopes will hold together the fragile bipartisan agreement and get the $1 trillion package through.
He’s still saying he wants to get the Democrats’ $6 trillion social spending plan enacted as well, but that may be mostly about keeping progressives in his party on board, at least some of whose support he will need in order to get the physical infrastructure plan through Congress.
There is broad support in Congress and in the general public for investing in a big way in transportation as well as high-speed internet access and water systems. All around this country, the basic infrastructure is aging and deteriorating. Most state and local governments don’t have the funding to come anywhere close to fixing or replacing it all.
In addition, such an investment would create a significant number of new construction jobs. Since those jobs tend to be blue-collar, this should help address the income disparities that have grown as the U.S. economy has shifted more toward providing services than making or building things.
Trying to link the physical infrastructure package, however, to the separate $6 trillion Democratic wish list would kill both. The larger package is too ambitious and too expensive. It would further endanger Medicare, as it would dramatically expand a program that already can’t afford the coverage it provides. It would provide new family benefits and make existing temporary ones permanent, but without a solid plan to pay for them. Even if the Democrats could raise taxes on the rich, as they propose, it would still only pay for about half the total package’s cost.
That’s just too much debt to pile on an already astronomical amount that’s been incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What Biden can achieve, if he doesn’t overplay his hand, is the physical infrastructure plan. He should be satisfied with that.
