Democrats pursue “two tracks” on infrastructure legislation

Washington — Although a bipartisan group of senators reached a tentative deal on infrastructure legislation last week, congressional Democrats are preparing to forge ahead with a process to pass a larger proposal without any Republican votes if needed, lawmakers said Tuesday.

“The White House made clear to us that we should be prepared to proceed on two tracks,” Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a press conference. House Democrats met for their first in-person caucus meeting since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, where they heard from Biden administration officials who laid out the “two track” pathway.

One of those tracks is continuing negotiations with Republicans, while the other is preparing for budget reconciliation, a lengthy and complicated process that would allow legislation to pass with a simple majority.

The “two track” pathway may be necessary, as progressive Democrats grow impatient with the ongoing negotiations. A group of five Republicans and five Democrats announced last week that they reached an agreement for a proposal that would include $579 billion in new spending over five years. This is significantly less than President Biden’s $1.7 trillion proposal, a slimmed-down version of his initial $2.3 trillion offer.

Speaking with Jeffries after the caucus meeting, Congressman Pete Aguilar noted that much of what was included in Mr. Biden’s American Jobs Plan was broadly popular with the American people — Republicans and Democrats — which would justify moving forward without support from congressional Republicans.

“We won’t give this process longer than we need to,” Aguilar said.

Congressman John Yarmuth, the chair of the Budget Committee, told reporters that he expected Democrats to hold a markup on a resolution for budget reconciliation in July. He said that provisions included in Mr. Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan that are opposed by Republicans, such as shoring up “human” infrastructure of child care and home care, would be included in such a resolution.

“Neither precludes the other,” Yarmuth said of continuing negotiations and preparing a budget resolution. He added that Biden administration officials told House Democrats that the White House would give the bipartisan negotiations seven to 10 days to solidify a deal.

Many Democrats harbor concerns about whether some of their priorities will fall by the wayside in the negotiated bill, such as provisions to address climate change and invest in green infrastructure. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell told reporters on Tuesday that she would not vote for a bill that did not include provisions on electric vehicles.

“At some point, you’ve got to fish or cut bait,” Dingell said about the timing for continued negotiations. “We have to get an infrastructure bill done this summer. Period. And we can’t talk it to death. It’s got to happen.”

Dingell also noted that the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus has introduced their own framework for physical infrastructure that would include provisions on electric vehicles, and offer $761.8 billion in new spending over eight years.

Another sticking point for Democrats is how to fund the legislation. Republicans have balked at Mr. Biden’s proposal of increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, and setting a minimum corporate tax rate of 15%. But Mr. Biden appears unwilling to use unspent coronavirus relief funds or index the gas tax to inflation, two pay-fors Republicans and a few Democratic senators have floated.

Any bipartisan bill would need universal support from all Democrats in the Senate, given the narrow Democratic majority. Democrats only hold 50 seats, meaning that they would need support from at least 10 Republicans to meet the 60-vote threshold to advance a bill. But if a few Democratic senators vote against the bill, the loss would need to be compensated with more Republicans voting for it, which is an unlikely scenario.

Progressives have already indicated their distaste for the bipartisan proposal. Senator Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters on Monday that he would not support the bipartisan bill, saying that any measure “has to be paid for in a progressive way” to address income inequality.

Senator Ron Wyden, the chair of the Finance Committee, said Tuesday that he also believed “most of what is being discussed in this effort would heap new taxes on working people.”

“I am not going to raise new taxes on working people and let mega-corporations and the wealthy off,” Wyden said.

Senators Ed Markey and Jeff Merkley indicated that they would not support the bipartisan bill.

“It’s time for us to go our own way,” Markey told reporters in a press conference, referring to reconciliation. Merkley said he would “absolutely not” support a bipartisan bill without a commitment to also passing a reconciliation bill including climate provisions.

Moving forward with reconciliation would require the support of all 50 Democrats as well, which is not a guarantee. Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who are part of the bipartisan group negotiating a deal, have expressed unwillingness to use reconciliation. Neither has publicly committed to supporting a reconciliation package including climate provisions and “human” infrastructure if the bipartisan deal is passed either.

Manchin told reporters Tuesday that the group was “going back and forth” on ways to pay for the legislation, but did not answer a question on whether he would support a reconciliation package.

Rebecca Kaplan, Alan He and Jack Turman contributed reporting.