WASHINGTON, D.C. — As President Joe Biden and his administration travel the country to sell their two infrastructure packages, the toughest crowd they face remains Republicans in Congress.
What You Need To Know
- Ohio Democrats and Republicans remain divided on what should be in an infrastructure package and how it should be paid for
- President Biden has tapped HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, a former Ohio Rep., to sell the proposal to Congress
- Democrats want the package to be wide-reaching, while Republicans favor a more targeted approach
- An initial vote in the U.S. House is at least a month away
Biden wants to go big on infrastructure — he’s proposed the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan that are worth a combined $4 trillion.
The president has tapped former Ohio Congresswoman and current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge to be one of his point people selling the proposals.
Fudge made her case to senators in a hearing on Thursday.
“If we want the United States to remain the greatest nation in the world, then we must first take care of home in the most literal sense,” Fudge testified.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who chaired the hearing, is fully on board, even if Republicans aren’t.
“I want to go through a bipartisan process, but I want to go big,” Brown said Thursday.
The infrastructure debate has two layers: What qualifies as infrastructure? And how should it be paid for?
Democrats feel roads, bridges, and broadband, but also child care and housing falls under the definition; and they want to tax the wealthy and corporations to cover the bill.
Republicans want a more targeted approach that zeros in on roads, bridges, broadband and water; and they favor user fees like a gas tax to pay for it.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R, OH-2) voiced their concerns in hearings this week.
“Probably the most important aspect of infrastructure that we’re not talking enough about is how do you pay for it,” Portman said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
In a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Wenstrup echoed him.
“Instead of focusing on tax hikes that will reduce economic activity, we need to, and can be, looking at infrastructure solutions that will attract more private investments in our communities,” Wenstrup said.
Senate Republicans are negotiating with President Biden and committee hearings are happening almost every day, but Congress is far from voting on either infrastructure package — the House is not in session again until mid-June.
