Washington, Jun 29:US President Joe Biden will look to sell voters on the economic benefits of the USD 973 billion infrastructure package while in Wisconsin on Tuesday, hoping to boost the bipartisan agreement that is held together in large part by the promise of millions of new jobs.
White House officials issued an internal memo that highlights how the largest investment in transportation, water systems and services in nearly a century would boost growth. The memo notes that the total package is four times the size of the infrastructure investment made a dozen years ago in response to the Great Recession and the biggest since Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s.
It also emphasises an analysis suggesting that 90 per cent of the jobs generated by the spending could go to workers without college degrees, a key shift as a majority of net job gains before the pandemic went to college graduates.
“This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,” the memo says.
Potential economic gains were a shared incentive for the group of Democratic and Republican senators who agreed to the deal on Thursday. But the process briefly fell into disarray late last week as Biden suggested the deal would be held up until he also received a separate package for infrastructure, jobs and education that would be determined solely by Democrats through the budget reconciliation process.
Biden said Saturday that this was not a veto threat, and by Sunday the package appeared back on track.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden is “eager” for both bills to be approved by Congress and that the president is going to “work his heart out” to make it happen.
“The president intends to sign both pieces of legislation into law,” Psaki said at her daily briefing.
Approval of both bills by Congress remains a long haul with this summer’s initial votes expected in July. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell questioned the legislative process ahead and mounted fresh obstacles while speaking Monday in Kentucky.
McConnell said he has not yet decided whether he will support the bipartisan package, but he wants Biden to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to say they will allow the bipartisan arrangement to pass without mandating that the much larger and broader follow-up bill be in place.
“I appreciate the president saying that he’s willing to deal with infrastructure separately, But he doesn’t control the Congress,” McConnell said at a press conference in Louisville.
The two bills had always been expected to move in tandem, and that is likely to continue as Biden drops his veto threat but reaches across the aisle for the nearly USD 1 trillion bipartisan package as well as his own broader package. The Democratic leaders are pressing ahead on the broader bill, which includes Biden’s families and climate change proposals, as well as their own investments in Medicare, swelling to some USD 6 trillion.
The eight-page White House memo comes from Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, and senior adviser Anita Dunn. It indicates that the USD 110 billion for roads and bridges would help relieve traffic and congestion that costs the economy over USD 160 billion annually.
The memo justifies the USD 48.5 billion planned for public transit by citing studies that link light rail and buses to increased earnings and employment for workers. It defends the USD 66 billion for repairs and upgrades for rail lines by saying that current delays and disruptions weigh on growth.
The bipartisan agreement also would help nurture the market for electric vehicles, improve broadband access, repair water lines and create resilience against damage from extreme weather events. (AGENCIES)
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