‘I’m not going to get into legislative tactics’: Klain avoids reconciliation debate amid infrastructure rollout



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The complex budget maneuver would allow Senate Democrats to pass Biden’s sweeping infrastructure plan by a simple majority in the chamber. But Klain declined on Thursday to say whether the White House had ever determined it would seek to circumvent the filibuster, saying it “was not going to get into legislative tactics today.”

“We just launched this plan yesterday,” he said. “Congress is out of session. We’re going to start bringing members here physically… after this Easter break and talking to Congress – talking to members of the House and Senate, Democrats, Republicans about how they want to move forward. We want to move forward, if possible, on a bipartisan basis, and I think there is hope for that.

Biden unveiled his infrastructure plan at an event in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, showcasing a series of investments in roads, bridges and transit – as well as improved access to clean, high-speed water and care for the elderly and the disabled. The administration offered to pay for the legislation by rewriting the corporate tax code, including increasing the amount paid by businesses from 21% to 28%.

“Listen, I think these are national needs. And like the president said, people have to decide if they’re going to deliver or split. And we intend to deliver, ”Klain said Thursday. “And when I talk to Republicans, I see they want to deliver too.”

Congressional Republicans blasted Biden’s efforts to reverse the corporate component of former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts in 2017, and Progressive Democrats complained that the administration’s infrastructure plan was not quite ambitious. But Klain indicated that the White House would not be deterred by criticism from Congress.

“At the end of the day, let me be clear: the president was elected to do a job,” he said. “And part of that job is preparing this country to win the future. That’s what he’s going to do.

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