By Craig Fahle
Crafting a bipartisan deal on something as expensive, and extensive as infrastructure is always a difficult prospect, especially when Democrats and Republicans can’t even agree on what the term means. But an even bigger problem for President Biden is trying to negotiate with a party that isn’t really interested in making a deal at all.
Biden’s original plan called for $2.3 trillion in spending, to be paid for with a partial rollback of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. Naturally, Republicans balked, and their latest counteroffer includes less than half of what Biden is seeking in total, with only $237 billion in new spending … most of it paid for by using unspent COVID relief funds, and possible user fees like gas tax increases and tolls. Biden smartly rejected the proposal as wholly inadequate to meet his policy goals.
HR 3684, the INVEST in America Act sponsored by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-OR, is canted much closer to various Republican offers than even the White House’s latest $1.2-trillion bid, and thus isn’t much better. Even with a price tag of just $574 billion and a concentration on “traditional” infrastructure needs, there’s no guarantee the Senate counterpart to HR 3684 would pass with the 10 Republican votes necessary to avoid a filibuster.
Republicans have made clear that Biden’s policy goals are not in their interest. They also aren’t interested in any realistic discussion on how to pay for our infrastructure needs. Any conversation that does not include raising taxes on corporations, even a little bit, isn’t serious.
Republicans have called tax increases a “red line” they won’t cross. Believe them.
Without tax increases on corporations and rich people, the bill will naturally fall to the middle and lower classes. Biden shouldn’t take the Republican bait. The Republican “offer” simply allows them to go home to their districts, take credit for projects already paid for, and hammer Democrats for raising taxes on the middle class just in time for the midterms. Meanwhile, left leaning Democrats once again feel betrayed, and bitter about another lost opportunity, and the unwillingness to directly confront Mitch McConnell and his obstructionist methods. A perfect storm for the 2022.
Lastly, what guarantees are there that McConnell and his Senate minions would even honor a deal? Republicans just a few days ago undermined their own negotiator on a January 6th investigation when they ditched a “bipartisan” agreement on a commission because they were worried about political fallout. That’s all Biden needs to know. If one side isn’t negotiating in good faith, walk away from the table and try to go it alone. At least that way, everyone will be on record voting against huge infusions of investment into their communities. That’s the kind of thing that voters will notice.