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WASHINGTON — Members of a bipartisan group of senators said they have reached agreement on an infrastructure proposal that will be paid for in full without tax increases, and have presented the plan to other lawmakers and the White House as they try to craft compromise legislation on the issue.
While a group of 10 senators did not disclose details of the plan in its statement, people familiar with the agreement said it called for $579 billion above projected future federal spending on infrastructure. The proposal would spend a total of $974 billion over five years and 1.2 billion dollars. $1 trillion if it continues over eight years, according to some people.
The initial agreement comes days after President Biden canceled a separate set of negotiations with Senate Republicans over the infrastructure plan and instead focused his focus on talks between a group of five Republicans and five Democrats.
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To move forward in Congress, the plan will need the approval of a broader group of Republicans and Democrats, as well as the White House. In recent days, some Democrats have indicated they are skeptical that bipartisan talks will lead to a large enough package.
“We are discussing our approach with our concerned colleagues, and the White House, and remain optimistic that this can lay the groundwork for mobilizing broad support from both parties and addressing American infrastructure needs,” said the group, which includes Senator Kerstin Senema (, Ariz.), Rob Portman (R. ., Ohio) and Joe Manchin (D., Washington, D.C.).
The White House did not immediately comment on the senators’ announcement.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va), spoke with members of the media on Capitol Hill Thursday. Photo: Eldrago/Bloomberg News
Republicans have said that infrastructure investment will not be paid for by the tax increases, but lawmakers have been steadfast on how they finance the package, which is expected to be the most contentious part of the negotiations. Senator Mitt Romney (Republic of Utah), another member of the group, said earlier Thursday that the group is looking at indexing the gas tax with inflation. The federal gasoline tax has not been increased since 1993.
The new proposal is also expected to be paid for in part by reallocating funds from previous Covid aid packages, said Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.), who led the latest round of negotiations with Mr. Biden and Mr. Biden. Talk to members of your bipartisan group.
Biden indicated last week that he would be open to using about $75 billion in Covid aid passed during the Trump administration, but administration officials said he would not pull any money from the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package passed earlier. from this year.
Biden’s infrastructure plan
Mr. Biden ended his talks with Ms. Capito after she last offered about $307 billion in new spending.
During talks with Ms. Capito, Mr. Biden sought at least $1 trillion to spend above base levels expected for federal spending if current infrastructure programs continue. The original White House plan came to $2.3 trillion, pumping money into roads and bridges as well as workforce development and home care, among other programs. Many Democrats are eager to agree to much of this proposal.
Five Republicans’ support of $579 billion in spending above the baseline brings the two parties closer to each other on the scope of the package. But in a Senate evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, at least 10 Republicans would need to join each Democrat to pass the bill through a regular system, and it’s not clear whether a bipartisan agreement would attract that much support from both Republicans and Democrats.
“Obviously to get Republican support for her, she has to have more of our members engaged in the conversation, and she’s got to get enough Democrats,” said Senator John Thune (R-D.D.), Republican No. 2: “It’s a difficult balance.”
Mr. Biden’s original plan also called for higher corporate taxes, including raising the corporate rate to 28% from 21% and tightening net profits for US foreign companies, to cover the cost of the 15-year infrastructure plan. Republicans refused to raise corporate taxes, instead preferring to raise money from user fees.
While Mr. Biden has brought up other tax ideas in negotiations with Republicans, including a minimum corporate tax rate, to increase revenue for the plan, he has been vehemently opposed to raising user fees such as the gas tax.
But some Democrats support raising the gas tax. Sean Tom Carper (D., Del.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, tweeted Thursday that Congress should index the gas tax with inflation.
“Things worth paying for,” he tweeted. “As I have said at the last two conferences, the gas tax should at least be disaggregated by inflation to help fund investments in climate-resilient infrastructure.”
Democrats have the power to approve the infrastructure package without meeting the typical 60-vote threshold in the Senate if they use a budget tool called reconciliation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., New York) said this week that the party is preparing to move forward with reconciliation as it also explores bipartisan talks. Schumer said lawmakers can eventually agree to two packages — one bipartisan and the other relying solely on Democrats’ votes.
Democrats are also seeking to advance Biden’s separate $1.8 trillion plan that focuses on child care and anti-poverty efforts.
Write to Andrew Dohren at [email protected] and Christina Peterson at [email protected]
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