Joe Biden has a democratic tug of war on infrastructure packages

Joe Biden is under increasing pressure from both sides of the Democratic Party as the US President negotiates $ 2.3 million infrastructure package, between moderates who want to reach an agreement with Republicans and progressives who demand to stay away from the negotiating table.

The tug-of-war between Democrats could be a problem for Capitol Hill for Biden, who will soon have to make a decision that satisfies one side of his political base, but the other is disappointed in one of the basic elements of his economic agenda.

Biden initially made an ambitious $ 2.3 million infrastructure proposal funded by an increase in the corporate tax rate; then, last week, after a few rounds of negotiations with Republicans, he got a $ 1.7 million drop. Republicans initially proposed a $ 568 billion plan, but have gradually raised their approved spending levels. On Thursday, Republican lawmakers led by Shelley Moore Capito West Virginia put a new offer on the table for the embarrassment of $ 1 million.

However, there is a big difference between the two sides that there are still Republicans in the face of tax increases to fund the plan, and to have a much narrower view of what should be classified as infrastructure spending compared to Democrats. Republican senators said Thursday that a $ 928 million offer would be largely funded by re-stocked Covid relief funds.

Biden told reporters on Thursday that he had spoken to Capito and would meet with Republican negotiators next week. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that while the latest counterproposal was “encouraging,” Democrats are “still concerned” about the size of the plan and the Republicans’ intention to pay for it.

Many Democrats, including progressives, are urging Biden to abandon negotiations with Republicans and move forward on his way to overcoming the White House plan, using a very thin majority on Capitol Hill.

“I’m all for bipartisanship, but if Republicans aren’t serious partners, we need to act without them,” Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley said this week on Twitter. “We need clean energy, broadband and affordable housing, good roads and good jobs to be competitive in the 21st century.”

As a sign of growing unrest on the left, Merkley joined left-wing senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in calling for Biden to move to another major economic agenda for the president, a $ 1.8 million tax-paid social spending plan. it increases in the rich. “This human infrastructure cannot be secondary to the needs of physical infrastructure or subject to the obstructionism of Republicans,” they wrote.

The progressive Sunrise Movement responded to Thursday’s final Republican bid to allow Democrats to “use the power given to them by voters with or without the GOP or to do whatever it takes.”

The left-wing push is being resisted by moderate Democrats with an ongoing effort to reach an agreement with Republicans.

Tom Carper, a Democratic senator from Delaware and an ally of Biden, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday: “I think we might want to leave this game a little longer…. I’m not particularly ready to say until when, but a little more.”

Joe ManchinThe most conservative Democrat in the Senate sees his support as crucial in the upper house, which is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, has made a similar argument. This week Mitt Romney met with Utah Republican Senator Susan Collins, Maine Republican Senator and a small group of bilateral lawmakers to negotiate an alternative compromise.

“We have a team of eight of us, four Democrats and four Republicans, so we’ve come together on what we would spend and what the pay would be,” Romney said. “But we are in a second burner. . . the front is Shelley Moore Capito and the White House negotiation, and our work would be interesting if that doesn’t move forward. ”

The president, who has been in the upper house of Congress for more than three decades and has campaigned to reach all political corridors, has long said he wants to reach an agreement between party leaders instead of pushing for a tax and spending plan. reconciling democratic support only using the Senate budget procedure under the name.

But Biden and his team have also learned hard lessons from Barack Obama’s presidency when their signature stopped on health care reform law in weeks when they tried in vain to negotiate a deal with Republicans. Over time, the plan became less popular and resistance against it hardened on Capitol Hill and across the country.

However, while patience is rapidly running out among progressive democracies, moderates appear comfortable with lengthy conversations.

At a Financial Times event on Tuesday, Manchin said he wanted an “open and fair” process that would include politicians from both parties, and suggested he was willing to wait months to develop that, until next year.

“We have this Congress, the 117th Congress,” the West Virginia senator said, referring to the two-year legislative session that will end next year. “I’m sure I’d like to do it before the end of the 117th Congress.”

Republicans, meanwhile, said they were confident Manchin and other moderate Democrats would support simpler proposals than a larger infrastructure package.

“[The White House’s] The challenge, of course, is how much they can do with 50 Democrats, “Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt told Capitol Hill reporters on Thursday.” I think it’s easier to get 15 or 20 more Republicans. . . in a real infrastructure package, than the last three Democrats could get into anything but a package. “