Key Senate Republican calls Biden plan ‘wrong approach’

His. Rob portmanRobert (Rob) Jones Portman Trump meeting with Ohio Senate candidates turns tense: Democrats split on gun control strategy report (R-Ohio), a key Senate moderate, criticized President BidenJoe Biden The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden Seeks Expanded Government, Tax Hikes Five Things To Watch For Biden’s Infrastructure Plan GOP Seeks New Line Of Attack Against Biden Economic Plans READ MOREWednesday’s $ 2.25 trillion infrastructure plan, calling it a “wrong approach” because of its price tag and corporate taxes.

“The total climbs to $ 3 trillion with the inclusion of these big political priorities that are a far cry from what we’ve ever defined as infrastructure,” said Portman, one of 10 Republican senators who met with Biden in the White House in early February. , said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. He cited “hundreds of billions of dollars spent on priorities such as health care, workforce development, and research and development.”

Portman, who sits on the Finance Committee and serves as an adviser to the Republican Senate leadership team, also took a hand on Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% and put end to various tax breaks to pay the cost of the package. over 15 years.

“President Biden is proposing high new corporate taxes that will hurt working families and last for more than a decade. This approach is wrong, and will only jeopardize our economy when we start to recover, ”he said in his statement.

Portman’s statement is a first indication that if Biden’s infrastructure plans get Republican support, it won’t be much.

Criticism of a key Republican moderate – one of Democrats’ best hopes for bipartisanship – questions whether splitting Biden’s ambitious infrastructure program into two parts will actually ensure bipartisan achievement major during his first year in office.

Portman claimed on Wednesday that only $ 620 billion of Biden’s proposed investment was in traditional transportation infrastructure.

He argues that the President and Democrats would be better served by using the Surface Transportation Infrastructure Bill that was unanimously passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as a model.

“I support improving America’s aging roads, bridges, ports and other infrastructure. And we can do it in a bipartisan way. At the last Congress, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved bipartisan infrastructure legislation by a vote of 21-0, ”he said. “This bipartisan approach from the last Congress totaled $ 287 billion, but the Biden plan presented today costs more than $ 2 trillion.

Portman joined all other Republicans in the Senate and House in voting against Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion US bailout after the President and Democrats rejected a counterproposal he proposed to d other GOP moderates to spend $ 618 billion to fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.