Whats in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan?
A core bipartisan group of 10 senators reached a deal with the White House on Thursday to spend $973 billion over five years, and $1.2 trillion if continued over eight years, on a package that would fund improvements to roads, bridges, transit, airports and enhanced infrastructure for broadband, water and electric vehicles. It leaves out many of President Bidens top priorities for human infrastructure such as child care, elder care, and education provisions. The bipartisan plans authors describe it as a framework, and note that some of the details remain to be ironed out, though they agreed on the major pieces and how to pay for them. Heres whats in the agreement, and what comes next. The bipartisan group focused mostly on physical infrastructure, putting off issues like funding long-term care for seniors and child care for a potential Democrats-only budget maneuver later this summer. The plan includes nearly $400 billion in expected baseline transportation funding that Congress must regularly renew, along with $579 billion in new spending. Of the new spending, $312 billion of which would go to transportation projects and $266 billion would go to other infrastructure needs like water systems, broadband, and improving power grids. The transportation section includes $109 billion above-baseline funding for roads and bridges, $49 billion for mass transit, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, $25 billion for airports, $16 billion for seaports and waterways, and $15 billion for electric-vehicle infrastructure and electric buses. It also includes provisions for infrastructure financing and safety. The other tranche of money dedicates $55 billion for water infrastructure, $65 billion for broadband, and $73 billion for building thousands of miles of new transmission lines intended to speed the transition to renewable energy. There is also $21 billion for environmental remediation of polluted areas and $47 billion for resilience projects to deal with climate change, extreme weather events, and cyberattacks. Republicans rejected a White House plan to raise taxes on corporations to cover the cost of infrastructure investments, and the White House opposed lawmakers ideas to index the gasoline tax to inflation and charge fees to electric vehicles to finance the spending. Instead, lawmakers expect to raise about $100 billion through public-private partnerships and direct-pay municipal bonds, according to a person familiar with the discussions, and generate a net of about $100 billion by investing $40 billion to tighten enforcement at the Internal Revenue Service to collect taxes that are owed but not paid. They also repurpose about $80 billion from prior pandemic relief bills to pay for the package. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) said that amount goes up to $125 billion when including previously approved broadband funding and money coming from states returning unused unemployment benefits. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, shown on Wednesday, have been closely following talks on the infrastructure package. The deal was primarily negotiated between a group of 10 senatorsfive Republicans and five Democratsand was agreed to by a larger group of 21 senators, including 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats. The 11 Republicans are crucial to the passage of any deal, because along with all 50 Democrats they would surpass the 60 votes necessary to break a filibuster in the Senateassuming the Democrats stay united. Senior White House officials also participated in negotiations, and the senators met with Mr. Biden on Thursday to present the framework and discuss lingering issues. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) have been closely following the negotiations and have been generally supportive of the deal. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has remained coy about whether he intends to support the package, and Mr. Portman, who is one of the main negotiators, said the Republican leader hasnt come to a decision yet. Moving the bipartisan agreement from framework to law will require a tightrope act by Democratic leaders, because the package excludes many other proposals that Mr. Biden and party lawmakers see as critical. Many Democrats in the House and Senate are demanding that any bipartisan deal must be advanced alongside a separate package that contains Mr. Bidens other top priorities, such as elder care and child care, climate provisions, as well as a slew of education provisions and tax increases for the wealthy and corporations. Democrats expect no GOP support for those provisions, and they will attempt to pass the second package through budget reconciliation, a maneuver that enables legislation to advance via a simple majority. Mr. Schumer and Mrs. Pelosi have agreed with that sequencing, but with tight margins in both the House and Senate, the deal could snag on the objections of just a few House members or even one senator. There aint no infrastructure bill without the reconciliation bill, Mrs. Pelosi said Thursday. Mrs. Pelosi said the House wont take up the bipartisan agreement until the Senate approves a package through reconciliation. The White House and Democratic leaders want to pass the packages next month, though the reconciliation package in particular could require more time and stretch into the fall. Related Video President Bidens infrastructure plan calls for non-traditional projects like the removal of some highways. What Democrats want for cities like Baltimore says a lot about the Presidents goals in the next wave of development. Photo: Carlos Waters/WSJ  Write to Gabriel T. Rubin at gabriel.rubin@wsj.com