“I think there’s ways to do that. Hopefully it won’t be smoke and mirrors. Bottom line, this is probably the toughest part about this from my perspective, is how you get a pay-for,” he said, referring to finding a way to offset the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars in new infrastructure spending without raising taxes.
Many Democrats, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden
Jayapal argues the more time spent on bipartisan negotiations means the longer Congress will go without passing a significant infrastructure investment bill.
“Every day that is wasted trying to get Republicans on board is another day that people can’t go back to work because they don’t have child care; another day without investing in millions of good, union jobs, another day that we lose further ground on the climate crisis,” she said. “Further delays jeopardize momentum and allow Republicans to block progress for the American people with no end in sight.”
Senate Democrats are crafting their own proposal to lower prescription drug prices, an alternative to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) plan, amid doubts about whether the far-reaching House bill can get all 50 Senate Democrats on board
Just a gentle, friendly reminder that the executive branch doesn’t write the bills. https://t.co/bjpbtdATlv Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) June 9, 2021
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), an ally of Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted that the climate provisions of the bill are “literally a matter of life or death,” adding, “Our plan on climate needs to be built to sustain our planet, not the fossil fuel industry.”
ADVERTISEMENT
This is literally a matter of life or death.
Our plan on climate needs to be built to sustain our planet, not the fossil fuel industry. https://t.co/5Xfq43LHYl Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) June 9, 2021
The comments come after talks between Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito
The president is moving forward on discussions with a bipartisan group of senators that is preparing another infrastructure proposal of roughly $880 billion.
Buttigieg cited a difference in new spending as to why talks with Capito crumbled. The White House is looking for about $1 trillion in new federal dollars for the plan, while Capitol had proposed roughly $150 billion in new spending supplemented by unspent funds from this year’s coronavirus relief package.
“It simply didn t rise to the level that s going to be needed in order to meet the country s objectives right now,” Buttigieg said. “You look at the need to deal with climate change and what they put forward simply isn t going to get there. The president was willing to move about a trillion dollars in the course of these negotiations. The group, led by Sen. Capito, couldn’t move more than about $150 billion. And so in the end, it just didn