[ad_1]
Biden sees a vast array of infrastructure – a bipartisan issue often promised but rarely delivered – as a central legislative priority in his first year in office and critical to his plan for economic recovery, sources familiar with the transition deliberations told CNN . Biden’s transition team to see his choices to lead the Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, and the Small Business Administration as some sort of unit that will need to act in tandem quickly and aggressively to achieve the goal. Biden has already started speaking with members of Congress about a possible proposal, including with House Ways and Means President Richard Neal.
A sweeping infrastructure plan, a commitment some Democrats see as the second after coronavirus relief on Biden’s legislative priority list, would verify a number of promises for the president-elect.
Biden has been committed throughout the campaign to getting Americans back to work as quickly as possible, which an employment-focused infrastructure proposal could do. The plan could be an area to work with Republicans, with infrastructure reform widely seen as the most likely area in which the two sides could strike a deal. And an infrastructure bill could also support Biden’s pledges to address the climate crisis, a move Democrats would be excited about.
“These three entities are going to be very important in rebuilding the economy,” said a source involved in the Biden transition. “Overall, that’s the notion of the conversation, making sure these agencies work well together and that there are lots of inter-agency relationships to help us get things done faster.”
The source added: “I think this is where we can really work in a bipartisan way and do a lot of things quickly.”
“There are a number of things that I have told several (Republican senators) before,” Biden said. “For example, there is an overwhelming consensus that we need to do the things we need to work on to deal with infrastructure.”
It’s still unclear whether an infrastructure proposal will be part of a larger stimulus package or a stand-alone bill, and Biden’s transition doesn’t want to be seen as negotiating a plan before take office.
The road to a major infrastructure package as well as additional relief for Covid-19 will involve delicate strategic calculations. Until the two Georgia flows are resolved next month – a change in potentially partisan control of the Senate – these calculations cannot be made conclusively.
From one angle, the combination of relief and Covid infrastructure allows each issue to help propel the other and serve Biden’s ‘build back better’ theme.
“Makes a clear argument about jobs,” as one Obama administration veteran put it.
But House leaders who saw their Democratic majority shrink last month fear creating too big a package to be successful, at least in the Senate.
“Doing them together will frighten too many Republicans because of the large numbers,” said a member of the House leadership.
Jamal Brown, a spokesperson for the Biden transition, said the president-elect “believes that an integral component to jumpstarting our economic recovery is an infrastructure plan.”
Brown said the goal of such a plan would be to rebuild “our nation’s crumbling roads, bridges and highways by creating millions of well-paying union jobs while turning the United States into shows. net greenhouse gas emissions and a cleaner, more equitable energy future. “
Biden weighs multiple candidates for top jobs
Biden continues to weigh his options over who will run these three agencies,
Two of Biden’s former presidential opponents – Buttigieg and Yang – are being considered for trade, multiple sources told CNN. Former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe was vying for the post, sources said, before ruling out a search for a post in the Biden administration.
And as names continue to swirl around who will run these agencies, Lance Bottoms has emerged as a top candidate for management in the Small Business Administration, a source said.
Biden to appoint Emanuel as transportation secretary “would be offensive to African Americans across the country. He is someone who, as mayor, withheld evidence of a police murder until his re-election,” he said. NAACP Chairman Derrick Johnson told CNN.
CNN reported in November that Emanuel had expressed interest in the job, telling his allies that the country’s infrastructure challenges are so severe that someone with executive and legislative experience would be an asset.
Biden’s team is also considering Garcetti leading the transportation department, sources said. Transportation is also seen as another possible landing point for Buttigieg.
And the outside groups lean on the Biden team with other names. Progressive groups like the Sunrise movement and the Justice Democrats are pushing Illinois Representative Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, while some unions pushing John Porcari, the former Maryland transportation secretary who served as deputy transportation secretary under Obama.
Biden has so far favored experts over politicians in cabinet selections he has already made, suggesting that some unknown names could become the main candidates in the weeks to come.
“I will keep my pledge that the administration, both inside the White House and outside the Cabinet, will look like the country,” Biden told CNN Thursday.
Excitement on Capitol Hill
The prospect of Biden prioritizing infrastructure got Democrats in Congress excited, especially those who hoped such a plan would be a bridge they could build to the Trump administration. But talks around an infrastructure plan with Trump and the Republicans collapsed in 2019, and repeated White House claims that the coming week would be “infrastructure week” have become a common joke for Democrats and the Republicans.
In the days following Biden’s election, Ways and Means House Speaker Neal had a conversation with the president-elect about where he wanted to go in politics, he told CNN. The infrastructure became a place where the two men agreed it would be good to start.
“They want to move forward,” said Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts.
Over the next several weeks, Neal was in constant communication with Biden’s staff, laying out some initial parameters of what a bill might look like. The price of an infrastructure package would likely range between $ 1.5 trillion and $ 2 trillion.
Neal told CNN after his conversations with Biden and his team that he would like the plan to be “as big as possible,” but he is pushing the Biden administration to start with a bill that has already passed: The Moving Forward Act which was priced at around $ 1.5 trillion and included a green energy component. Neal said Biden’s team was changeable over this suggestion.
Talks between Democrats and Republicans that failed in 2019 collapsed when the conversation turned to how to pay for the plan. Rebuilding roads, bridges and stations is a popular idea, but who gets this money and who pays for it remain huge sticking points. Some industry experts are hoping that the ability to link infrastructure reform to job creation in the wake of the economic calamity caused by the coronavirus could make the high price more palatable.
Democrats have suggested raising taxes on some of the highest earners as a way to fund the plan, but higher taxes, even on businesses and millionaires, are unlikely to go through a Republican-controlled Senate if Democrats do not win both Senate seats. in Georgia come January.
Another option is to raise the tax on gasoline, but while most Americans would probably not notice an extra 10 cents a gallon since gasoline prices fluctuate daily, the prospect of increasing taxes on gasoline. anything for Republicans is difficult, and the prospect of raising taxes on working Americans is hard for Democrats in the midst of the economic crisis to swallow.
There were also divisions among members over what even an infrastructure bill would look like.
Lawmakers in rural areas are likely to focus on expanding rural broadband, building water supply projects and rebuilding highways, while Democrats in more urban areas are said to be looking to build high-speed public transport. and, as Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, any project would. need to have an element of climate policy that Republicans would likely bristle with.
[ad_2]
Source link