McConnell says GOP will oppose Biden’s infrastructure plan

Any hope that Washington could pull together a bipartisan infrastructure package took a hit on Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Told reporters that the more than $ 2 trillion plan the White House unveiled on Wednesday “will not win our side’s support.” The proposal would invest in roads, bridges, airports, broadband, water networks, electric vehicles and skills training programs, and raise the corporate tax rate to 28% to offset the expenses.

The Republican also vowed to oppose President Joe Biden’s broader Democratic agenda, which adopted his first major initiative last month as part of the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

“I’m going to fight them every step of the way because I think it’s not the right prescription for America,” McConnell said at a press conference in Kentucky.

Unless 10 Republicans break with McConnell or Biden revises the plan to win GOP votes, his comment almost assures Democrats that Democrats should use budget reconciliation to pass the infrastructure bill on their own. Biden said he wanted to gain GOP support for the plan. But Republicans opposed any tax hikes, saying they could hamper America’s economic recovery.

Responding to McConnell on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki asked if the Republican Senate Leader agreed that the United States needs to update its infrastructure and expand access to broadband. She said Democrats and Republicans need to resolve disputes over how to pay for investments.

“If you don’t want to raise the corporate tax rate – even lower than it has been for the past 70 years and decades – if you don’t want to do that, if you don’t want to in place of a global minimum tax system, what are the alternatives? We are happy to hear these proposals, ”she said.

Even if they use reconciliation, Democrats will have to balance the competing interests among themselves to pass a bill. Some progressive lawmakers have called for including more ambitious measures to tackle climate change in the plan. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and other New York and New Jersey lawmakers have pushed to include a repeal of the state and local tax deduction cap in the plan. . The change should benefit high income taxpayers.

Biden and his advisers secured the Republicans’ initial contribution to the Covid relief plan, then decided to pass it on on their own when they realized the GOP would only accept a bill much smaller than that. they were looking for. They seem to take a similar approach when it comes to infrastructure.

“We will have a good faith negotiation with any Republican who wants to help make it happen. But we have to do it,” Biden said during the unveiling of the infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

No Republican in Congress has voted for Biden’s widely popular Covid plan. Corralling GOP support for another multi-billion dollar bill – which includes tax hikes – looks more difficult.

“The odds are longer for Republican support on this,” Howard Fineman, MSNBC contributor and correspondent for RealClearPolitics, said in a telephone interview.

“The last thing was to fight a disease, for god’s sake, and they couldn’t get Republicans to vote for it,” Fineman said. “It has less emotional weight in that sense.”

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.