Will the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan Turn Out to Be a Bridge to Nowhere?
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Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Two main things. The five more GOP senators needed to avoid a Republican filibuster, to start. The other missing element was any hint of color. The 10 senators who announced the deal represented, one by one, a whiter shade of pale. Theres only one Black Republican senator, of course, and with an election coming up its possible South Carolina Tim Scott couldnt risk it, especially while hes negotiating with Democrats on police reform. Texas Senator Rafael Cancn Cruz never mind. Yes, most are liberals, though Menendez, Duckworth, and Cortez-Mastro are among the most collaborative with the GOP, according to GovTrack. (Senator Kyrsten Sinema, of course, a cochair of the bipartisan effort and a foe of a $15 minimum wage as well as filibuster reform, was ranked most conservative.) Democrats should have more than eight senators of color among their 50, but thats for another time. First, the positive: Republicans used to resist the notion that things like broadband access, replacing water and sewer systems, and even expanded mass transit funding were worthy infrastructure spending; this reported bipartisan agreement funds all three. In a brief press conference later, Biden boasted of winning $115 billion for public transit and passenger rail, and $15 billion for electric buses and vehicle charging stations. Theres another $65 billion for broadband infrastructure and $55 billion for water infrastructure. Early versions of the compromise included funding via a public-private infrastructure bank, which many progressives fear would represent a public asset giveaway; no word yet about whether this package does the same thing. By far the best thing that happened all day was House Speaker Nancy Pelosis pledge that the House wont take up the bipartisan package until the Senate passes both that as well as the list of broader progressive priorities, coming to be known as human infrastructuremore funding for climate change, education, and the infrastructure of care (child care, pre-kindergarten, elder care)that made Bidens original $2 trillion infrastructure proposal so exciting. Progressives including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have demanded that the proposals proceed on parallel tracks for the bipartisan compromise to get their votes. And after he left the press conference, Biden issued his own statement: If this is the only thing that comes to me, Im not signing it. Im not just signing the bipartisan bill and forgetting the rest of it. Thats good news. Theres still no guarantee the compromise bill will garner 10 GOP votes. During Bidens brief press conference, he referred, notably, to what we just settled, adding at least for the moment. The president told reporters, I dont have any guarantee the bill will get the Republican votes it needs. Ominously, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, who said his top priority is blocking Bidens agenda, has been silent on the deal. Its hard to imagine him giving 10 Republicans permission to support the bill, especially if it goes along on a parallel track with a reconciliation package. Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner told MSNBC he will be shocked if we dont wind up with 20 or even more Republicans voting for the compromise. Ill have what hes having; well see. The compromise also gives Sinema and Joe Manchin, two implacable foes of filibuster reform, an excuse to insist that bipartisanship is not deadindeed, both said just that in brief statements on Thursday. (Neither has said theyll support another infrastructure deal via reconciliation.) It was already on life support, and this is unlikely to help. This compromise still could fail, however. Im not rooting for that, as long as firm plans for a larger reconciliation package go along with it. But I wouldnt count more than five GOP votes as solid just yet.