President Biden's Infrastructure Plans

[Elixir]

I don’t get right wingers complaining about infrastructure representing a high percentage of total government spending.
In a perfect world, that’s where nearly all the money would go.
Anyhow, it’s not like it’s going to overtake military spending over the next decade.

 

[Patooka]

I don’t get right wingers complaining about infrastructure representing a high percentage of total government spending.

If you're not for anything, you've gotta be against something.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Live at the moment, the vote was 69-30 in favor of passing the infrastructure bill in the Senate. Pelosi has indicated she wants Part II passed before addressing it after the August Recess.

Part II would require reconciliation as it includes stuff the GOP will never go for, like child care.

I'm curious how well the broadband would work. I'm not a fan of the plan which seems to apply stipends. I'd rather just give a fixed dollar amount to the broadband company (based on the number of people they serve) and say this level of internet is now free, 5 Mbps or 10Mbps.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Live at the moment, the vote was 69-30 in favor of passing the infrastructure bill in the Senate. Pelosi has indicated she wants Part II passed before addressing it after the August Recess.

Part II would require reconciliation as it includes stuff the GOP will never go for, like child care.

Nancy better hurry. If we have another bridge go down between now and then, it'll be her legacy.

 

[Derec]

Live at the moment, the vote was 69-30 in favor of passing the infrastructure bill in the Senate. Pelosi has indicated she wants Part II passed before addressing it after the August Recess.

It's not really "Part Two" as the $3.5T is not at all an infrastructure bill, but a smörgåsbord of unrelated non-infrastructure spending. It really should be several smaller bills that should be debated on their own merits.

Part II would require reconciliation as it includes stuff the GOP will never go for, like child care.

Nancy Pelosi and the so-called "progressives" are being obstructionist. If the infrastructure bill fails because they took their ball and went home because they could not get all they want, they deserve to lose big in 2022.

 

[Derec]

I don’t get right wingers complaining about infrastructure representing a high percentage of total government spending.

Just like with everything, there is a point at which you are spending too much on infrastructure. It's just that even with this $1T bipartisan bill we are not close to that point, chiefly because infrastructure has been neglected for so long.
So in principle it is right. Spending a "high percentage" of the budget on infrastructure on a sustained basis would be wasteful as it would get into the law of diminishing returns.

What should not be passed is the $3.5T non-infrastructure bill. US has been spending a lot on COVID relief in 2020 and 2021 and now is set (if Nancy and the Squad do not scuttle the bill in the House!) to spend $1T on infrastructure. Spending another $3.5T on a Democratic wish list (child tax credit, free child care, Medicare for more, etc.) would be irresponsible.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I remember Columbus wanting to delay construction of the I-90 bridge in Cleveland so they could build the fucking Portsmouth Bypass. Luckily-ish, the RNC convention was coming to town.

We are working on a bridge and a few of I-beams had corroded so much, you could see gaps through them! That is a one-way, one lane bridge. And it is being replaced. I remember the Cornell Road bridge deck having holes you could look through when we worked on replacing that by Case Western. That was reduced to a single lane of traffic each way.

Pelosi and the Senate will be negotiating, I just want Sinema and Manchin to be fucking clear upfront. If either of them fuck this up, they might as well switch parties (after we get a larger majority in the Senate).

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Live at the moment, the vote was 69-30 in favor of passing the infrastructure bill in the Senate. Pelosi has indicated she wants Part II passed before addressing it after the August Recess.

It's not really "Part Two" as the $3.5T is not at all an infrastructure bill, but a smörgåsbord of unrelated non-infrastructure spending. It really should be several smaller bills that should be debated on their own merits.

Part II would require reconciliation as it includes stuff the GOP will never go for, like child care.

Nancy Pelosi and the so-called "progressives" are being obstructionist. If the infrastructure bill fails because they took their ball and went home because they could not get all they want, they deserve to lose big in 2022.

The Republicans have defined obstructionism.

 

[lpetrich]

Senate Passes $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill - The New York Times - "The approval came after months of negotiations and despite deficit concerns, reflecting an appetite in both parties for the long-awaited spending package."

Fact Check: Just How Big is the Infrastructure Package? - The New York Times

How the Infrastructure Bill Passed (the Senate) - The New York Times

1. A less polarized issue
2. Presidential know-how
3. A centrist effort
4. McConnell’s calculus

The vote:
On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 3684, As Amended ) -- U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 1st Session

• Yes: D 48, I 2, R 19
• No: R 30
• Not voting: R 1

The two Independents, Bernie Sanders and Angus King, are Democrat-adjacent.

The Republicans who voted for it: Blunt (R-MO), Burr (R-NC), Capito (R-WV), Cassidy (R-LA), Collins (R-ME), Cramer (R-ND), Crapo (R-ID), Fischer (R-NE). Graham (R-SC), Grassley (R-IA), Hoeven (R-ND), McConnell (R-KY), Murkowski (R-AK), Portman (R-OH), Risch (R-ID), Romney (R-UT), Sullivan (R-AK), Tillis (R-NC), Wicker (R-MS)

Yes, Mitch McConnell himself voted for that bill.

The bill itself:
H.R.3684 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): INVEST in America Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

• extends FY2021 enacted levels through FY2022 for federal-aid highway, transit, and safety programs;
• reauthorizes for FY2023-FY2026 several surface transportation programs, including the federal-aid highway program, transit programs, highway safety, motor carrier safety, and rail programs;
• addresses climate change, including strategies to reduce the climate change impacts of the surface transportation system and a vulnerability assessment to identify opportunities to enhance the resilience of the surface transportation system and ensure the efficient use of federal resources;
• revises Buy America procurement requirements for highways, mass transit, and rail;
• establishes a rebuild rural bridges program to improve the safety and state of good repair of bridges in rural communities;
• implements new safety requirements across all transportation modes; and
• directs DOT to establish a pilot program to demonstrate a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee to restore and maintain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund and achieve and maintain a state of good repair in the surface transportation system.

 

[lpetrich]

That was the $1 trillion bill.

Senate Passes $3.5 Trillion Budget Plan, Advancing Safety Net Expansion - The New York Times - "The blueprint, which would expand health care, provide free preschool and community college, and fund climate change programs, passed along party lines and faces an arduous path ahead."

What is in the $1T bill:

• Main areas of spending. Overall, the bipartisan plan focuses spending on transportation, utilities and pollution cleanup.
• Transportation. About $110 billion would go to roads, bridges and other transportation projects; $25 billion for airports; and $66 billion for railways, giving Amtrak the most funding it has received since it was founded in 1971.
• Utilities. Senators have also included $65 billion meant to connect hard-to-reach rural communities to high-speed internet and help sign up low-income city dwellers who cannot afford it, and $8 billion for Western water infrastructure.
• Pollution cleanup: Roughly $21 billion would go to cleaning up abandoned wells and mines, and Superfund sites.

What they recently passed:
S.Con.Res.14 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): A concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2022 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2023 through 2031. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

It's a resolution, not a bill, and the Senate will be working on the appropriate bill.

The vote:
On the Concurrent Resolution (S. Con. Res. 14, As Amended ) -- U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 1st Session
Yes: D 48, I 2
No: R 49
Not voting: R 1

 

[lpetrich]

House Progressives Won't Vote for Infrastructure Without Other Spending - The New York Times

Progressive Democrats warned the House leadership that a majority of their members will withhold their support for a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill until the Senate passes a second, far larger package containing their spending priorities.

The warning came in a letter to the speaker, obtained by The New York Times, in which left-leaning members drew a line in the sand, putting them at odds with moderate Democrats who have been pushing for an immediate, stand-alone vote on the infrastructure bill.

In the letter, leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said a poll of their 96 members had confirmed a majority would withhold their support for the infrastructure legislation until the Senate passes a $3.5 trillion package with funding for climate programs, health care, education and child care.

...
The letter was signed by the chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and two of her deputies, Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Representative Katie Porter of California.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Survey Shows Majority of Respondents Will Withhold Support of Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Without Reconciliation Package | Press Releases | Congressional Progressive Caucus
with their letter


Moderates Threaten Stalemate Over Budget Vote and Infrastructure - The New York Times - "The letter from nine Democrats, enough to block passage, threatens their party’s two-track plan to pass both a $3.5 trillion social policy budget blueprint and an infrastructure bill."

On Friday, Ms. Pelosi was sticking to her position that the “hard infrastructure” legislation, which funds roads, bridges, tunnels, rail, transit and broadband, must be packaged with the social policy bill, or what Democrats are calling “soft infrastructure” — social welfare and climate change projects, financed by significant tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations.

...
“This is a once-in-a-generation infrastructure bill, and I think we should strike while the iron is hot,” Representative Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan, said. “We should bring it to the House and vote on it as soon as possible.”

with their letter

It was signed by Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Filemon Vela of Texas, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Ed Case of Hawaii, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Jim Costa of California.

Virtually all of them come from swing districts or areas of the country that shifted toward former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Gottheimer in 2018 won a seat that had been long occupied by Republicans. Mr. Golden, from conservative northern Maine, has often bolted from the Democratic position.

Ms. Bourdeaux, from suburban and exurban Atlanta, was the only Democrat in 2020 to win a Republican district. As Georgia’s Republican state legislature and governor begin redrawing district lines, she will be one of the most vulnerable Democrats in 2022.

Three of the nine are Latinos from Texas, which saw a marked shift in Hispanic voting toward Mr. Trump.

 

[lpetrich]

Daniella Diaz on Twitter: "NEW: 9 Dem moderates are threatening to withhold their support for their party's must-pass budget resolution until Pelosi changes course and instead allows their chamber to first vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan the Senate approved this week. Story TK (pic link)" / Twitter

Ryan Grim on Twitter: "Good thing Pelosi fundraised and campaigned for Cuellar in the primary so he could repay her by signing this" / Twitter
Rep. Henry Cuellar D-TX-28, who was challenged by Jessica Cisneros last year. She lost by 3.5%, and she is trying again this year.


Ideology scores from Report Cards for 2020 - Ideology Score - All Senators - GovTrack.us

Most conservative Democrats: Kyrsten Sinema D-AZ 0.68, Joe Manchin D-WV 0.57
Most liberal Republicans: Lisa Murkowski R-AK 0.57, Susan Collins R-ME 0.61

The Republican Senators who voted for the infrastructure bill: Blunt (R-MO) 0.83, Burr (R-NC) 0.65, Capito (R-WV) 0.76, Cassidy (R-LA) 0.80, Collins (R-ME) 0.61, Cramer (R-ND) 0.97, Crapo (R-ID) 0.82, Fischer (R-NE) 0.81. Graham (R-SC) 0.69, Grassley (R-IA) 0.73, Hoeven (R-ND) 0.83, McConnell (R-KY) 0.70, Murkowski (R-AK) 0.57, Portman (R-OH) 0.66, Risch (R-ID) 0.83, Romney (R-UT) 0.73, Sullivan (R-AK) 0.71, Tillis (R-NC) 0.91, Wicker (R-MS) 0.84

Those who voted for the bill were a little more liberal than average: mean 0.76 vs. 0.81, median 0.74 vs. 0.82


The CPC's letter was signed by Pramila Jayapal 0.07, Ilhan Omar 0.10, Katie Porter 0.24

On the other side, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey 0.64, Filemon Vela of Texas 0.38, Henry Cuellar of Texas 0.57, Ed Case of Hawaii 0.33, Kurt Schrader of Oregon 0.45, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia (elected in 2020), Jared Golden of Maine 0.46, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas 0.45 and Jim Costa of California 0.42.

Mean = 0.46, median = 0.45 -- some of the most conservative Democrats in the House.

 

[Derec]

The Republicans have defined obstructionism.

Doesn't mean they are the only ones doing it. In this case, 19 Republicans voted for the actual infrastructure bill. It is Nancy Pelosi and so-called Progressives in the House that want to obstruct the bipartisan bill unless their very expensive $3.5T bill gets passed as well.

 

[Derec]

Daniella Diaz on Twitter: "NEW: 9 Dem moderates are threatening to withhold their support for their party's must-pass budget resolution until Pelosi changes course and instead allows their chamber to first vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan the Senate approved this week. Story TK (pic link)" / Twitter

Pelosi should allow independent up or down votes on both bills.
If the Squad wants to vote against the infrastructure bill, they are free to do so, but they will be on record on blocking infrastructure. Let them stand up for what they believe in instead of hiding behind Memaw Pelosi's skirts!

 

[lpetrich]

Lindsey McPherson on Twitter: " I'm hearing that..." / Twitter

I'm hearing that at least 8-10 moderate House Democrats are privately expressing willingness to vote against the budget resolution if Pelosi does not schedule a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill first...

... This comes as Pelosi reiterated on a Democratic Caucus call Wednesday her plan to hold the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the Senate passes a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

“I am not freelancing. This is the consensus,” she said. ...

... That's the consensus among progressives, dozens of whom are prepared to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until they get a reconciliation bill they like.

But as I've already reported, moderates are pushing back, leveraging the budget:

House moderates may oppose budget without infrastructure vote - "Centrist Democrats want Pelosi to drop her plans to hold the bipartisan bill until Senate action on reconciliation"

Democratic leaders have already announced plans to bring the House back the week of August 23 to adopt the budget so they don't have a lot of time to wrangle the votes.

Here's my full story on all the dynamics I tweeted about in this thread.

Democrats about to walk budget tightrope in House - Roll Call - "Leadership struggling to bridge divide between moderates, progressives on $3.5T budget package, infrastructure"

Leah Greenberg on Twitter: "Let's just all be clear about what's happening here: it's the moderates who are threatening the full Biden agenda by trying to delink the infrastructure bill and reconciliation package. The progressives are organizing to protect it." / Twitter


I like AOC's description of them.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Conservative* House Democrats.

Let’s stop pretending that Dems who threaten to tank the President’s agenda, kill childcare/Medicare expansion, and work w/ GOP to expand the cruelest parts of our immigration system are “moderate.”

They are not moderate. They’re conservative." / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "It was clear from the beginning that the way a skinny bill gets a shot is if it’s part of a larger infrastructure package. Voting on the skinny lobbyist-friendly bill 1st gives conservatives leeway to hurt the larger infrastructure bill w/childcare, Medicare, climate,etc. Nope *" / Twitter

 

[Derec]

Leah Greenberg on Twitter: "Let's just all be clear about what's happening here: it's the moderates who are threatening the full Biden agenda by trying to delink the infrastructure bill and reconciliation package. The progressives are organizing to protect it." / Twitter

That's BS. The two bills are very different (the second bill is not an infrastructure bill at all!) and should be treated on their individual merits.

I like AOC's description of them.

They are moderate. AOC is a socialist. And the $3.5T bill is not an infrastructure bill no matter how often she and others repeat that lie.

 

[ZiprHead]

After the first round of expanded Child Tax Credit payments reached nearly 40 million families, hunger rates in households with children dropped nearly *24 percent*. That’s the lowest rate recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.

Although researchers say it’s too early to determine what factors specifically led to the drop in hunger rates, the Child Tax Credit appears to have played a major role: while households with children saw a major decline, households without children didn’t experience a change over the same time period.
The lesson: Poverty is a policy choice. Don’t believe anyone who tries to tell you differently.

..

 

[lpetrich]

Guess who likes those nine Reps.

No Labels on Twitter: "Their bold defiance of their party’s congressional leadership has thrown Speaker Pelosi’s calculations into disarray -- and has won them both praise and scorn. But just who are these nine brave legislators? (pic link)" / Twitter

No Labels | A New Politics of Problem Solving

How No Labels Went From Preaching Unity to Practicing the Dark Arts - "Internal documents show a group funded by the biggest names in finance. But also beset by dysfunction and division."

When Bipartisanship Is Just a Cover for Conservatives

Here’s a Better Name for No Labels: Republicans

Far from remaining aloof from politics, No Labels has been swooping down into the fray in recent years on behalf of Republicans and conservative Democrats.

A group called No Labels has embodied a particular approach to politics and policy in Washington, D.C.; it’s one that insists the real problems are partisanship, divisiveness, and incivility, and that if only sensible centrists from both parties could be brought together under the right conditions, the halcyon days of the past will return.

Yet curiously, the sensible solutions so often proposed by No Labels and its ilk have an uncanny likelihood of benefiting one particular element of our nation’s political economy: the superrich, or more precisely, the finance industry.

 

[lpetrich]

Jessica Cisneros on Twitter: "Brave? Last cycle, Cuellar was afraid of debating me—his 26yo first-time candidate opponent.

Unbreakable? Cuellar’s a known flip-flopper. We can break him (pic link)" / Twitter
Linking to a screencap of that NL tweet. She's now running against him again.

What NL likes: Problem Solvers Caucus - No Labels

Report Cards for 2020 - Ideology Score - All Representatives - GovTrack.us
Report Cards for 2020 - Ideology Score - All Senators - GovTrack.us

Don Bacon (R-NE) 0.77, Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) 0.56, Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA) (newcomer), Salud Carbajal (D-CA) 0.32, Ed Case (D-HI) (newcomer), Ben Cline (R-VA) 0.72, Lou Correa (D-CA) 0.34, Jim Costa (D-CA) 0.42, John Curtis (R-UT) 0.68, Debbie Dingell (D-MI) 0.25, Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) (PSC Co-Chair) 0.64, Mike Gallagher (R-WI) 0.76, Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) (newcomer), Jared Golden (D-ME) 0.46, Tony Gonzales (R-TX) (newcomer), Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) 0.67, Vicente González (D-TX) 0.57, Jennifer González-Colon (R-PR) 0.56, Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) (PSC Co-Chair) 0.64, Josh Harder (D-CA) 0.46, Steven Horsford (D-NV) 0.25, Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) 0.41, Dusty Johnson (R-SD) 0.66, Bill Johnson (R-OH) 0.74, David Joyce (R-OH) 0.66, John Katko (R-NY) 0.56, Young Kim (R-CA) (newcomer), Conor Lamb (D-PA) 0.42, Susie Lee (D-NV) 0.41, Elaine Luria (D-VA) 0.44, Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) 0.36, Peter Meijer (R-MI) (newcomer), Dan Meuser (R-PA) 0.72, Blake Moore (R-UT) (newcomer), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) 0.46, Tom O'Halleran (D-AZ) 0.50, Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) 0.33, Chris Pappas (D-NH) 0.40, Scott Peters (D-CA) 0.37, Dean Phillips (D-MN) 0.54, Tom Reed (R-NY) 0.56, Tom Rice (R-SC) 0.66, Brad Schneider (D-IL) 0.35, Kurt Schrader (D-OR) 0.45, Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) 0.42, Chris Smith (R-NJ) 0.57, Darren Soto (D-FL) 0.29, Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) 0.50, Pete Stauber (R-MN) 0.70, Bryan Steil (R-WI) 0.63, Haley Stevens (D-MI) 0.35, Tom Suozzi (D-NY) 0.34, Van Taylor (R-TX) 0.65, Fred Upton (R-MI) 0.55, David Valadao (R-CA) (newcomer)

Bill Cassidy (R-LA) 0.80, Susan Collins (R-ME) 0.61, John Cornyn (R-TX) 0.90, Angus King (I-ME) 0.49, Joe Manchin (D-WV) 0.57, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) 0.57, Jacky Rosen (D-NV) 0.34, Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) 0.68, Todd Young (R-IN) 0.77

 

[lpetrich]

I took statistics on the Problem Solvers' ideology scores, and I found quartile values 0.25, 0.40, 0.50, 0.65, 0.77.

First one is minimum (0/4 = 0), third one median (2/4 = 1/2), fifth and last one is maximum (4/4 = 1).

Subtracting out the median gives -0.25, -0.10, 0, +0.15, +0.27.

The most conservative one is Don Bacon R-NE at 0.77, and the most liberal one Debbie Dingell D-MI at 0.25.

The two co-heads are Brian Fitzpatrick R-PA and Josh Gottheimer D-NJ, both at 0.64.


Turning to the Senate allies, the most conservative one is John Cornyn R-TX at 0.9 and the most liberal is Jacky Rosen D-NV at 0.34. The median score was 0.61.