WASHINGTON – Even before he gets his first major legislative priority, President Joe Biden is working on the pitch for his second: an even bigger spending plan that bills the White House as the infrastructure package that both parties have long been looking for.
While any final votes on passing a Covid-19 aid package are still at least weeks away, Biden has already begun chasing Republicans over his infrastructure boost, which will likely be the focus of a historically late first speech to Congress, likely sometime in March. But even as he earns Republican backing, White House officials have already begun to discuss the possibility of moving forward without it, just as the Democrats appear poised to resolve the pandemic.
Biden welcomed a bipartisan group of senators to the Oval Office on Thursday to discuss what the White House described as “the critical need to invest in modern and sustainable US infrastructure.”
Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla., One of the participants, called it a “very good” conversation, but warned Democrats against overrun.
“When you’re working on infrastructure, it’s expensive things,” he said. “And I just don’t want them putting their agenda elsewhere and trying to take it hostage.”
A fresh legislative push would provide another test of whether Biden’s desire to quickly deliver on key campaign promises comes at the expense of his stated goal of working down the aisle whenever possible.
Two-part collaboration on Capitol Hill is already rare. Biden encountered Republicans during his predecessor’s impeachment process, whom Biden officials say fear the atmosphere for good faith negotiations has already been poisoned, even though Biden has done his best to stay away from it.
Biden outlined a more than $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan during the presidential campaign, saying at the time that it would be the “greatest public investment mobilization since World War II.” The plan and a similar framework adopted by the Democrat-led House at the last congress are the foundation of what Biden will propose.
In addition to repairs or new construction of roads and bridges, the plan also included expansion of broadband access and an ambitious climate agenda.
“We are looking at a much broader definition of infrastructure in the future than has been customary in the past,” said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, DS.C., a top ally of Biden, in an interview.
Officials hope that passing the $ 1.9 trillion Covid-19 contingency plan, coupled with progress in increasing vaccine distribution, will help build momentum for further economic stimulus, which would sell Biden in a prime -time speech to Congress and what could be his largest post-inauguration audience.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said on Thursday the address would wait until after the pandemic relief bill is passed, meaning Biden’s first speech to Congress would be the last by a freshman president since the inauguration was moved from March. to January in 1937.
“That’s the first order,” she said.
The infrastructure effort would mark a pivotal point from “rescue” mode to an ambitious blueprint to modernize US infrastructure and put the economy on a more secure foundation.
“The President and many Democrats and Republicans in Congress believe that … building infrastructure that is in our national interest, that boosts the US economy, creates well-paid union jobs here in America, and advances our climate and clean energy goals,” something that we can certainly work together, ”said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week.
The White House is also ready to sell the recovery package as part of the government’s foreign policy strategy, in particular its efforts to challenge China.
A senior government official said that Biden’s approach to China largely depends on the US’s ability to strengthen its economic base, particularly “ to ensure that we make the public investment needed to get stronger out of the other side of this economic crisis. and to maintain our innovation lead and to rebuild our industrial base. “
Biden called on his talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday evening and told lawmakers on Thursday, “If we don’t move, they’ll eat our lunch. They’re investing billions of dollars to solve a host of problems related to transportation and the environment and a whole host of other things, so we just have to go one step further. “
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Biden’s so-called Build Back Better agenda was also a major focus of his meeting this week with some of the country’s top business leaders as the White House works to build bipartisan support from outside of Washington in light of what it expects to be. will be another tough fight. to win the support of Republicans in Congress.
Democrats expect that any new major spending measure they put on the floor will have to go through the reconciliation process again to avoid a Senate filibuster, and they are bracing for Republican attacks at the expected price tag.
“I talk to my former colleagues all the time. They remind me it’s not about building infrastructure. It’s about who pays for it,” said former representative Steve Israel, DN.Y.
When Biden announced it in July, he said his infrastructure plan would double as an aggressive effort to combat climate change – the kind of framing Republicans like Inhofe are likely to challenge.
One of the initiatives Biden most often promoted on the campaign trail was adding hundreds of thousands of electric vehicle charging stations across the country as part of a massive infusion of federal money to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy, a critical part of its goal to achieve 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 and to fully reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the US by 2050.
Biden’s campaign proposal also called for billions to be spent on modernizing schools and defending private and public housing, as well as funding and accelerating permits for a quick start to repair highways, roads and bridges, as well as a well-known Biden priority – a national high-speed network which he said would be the “second great railway revolution”.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who virtually attended Thursday’s Oval Office meeting, is expected to play an important role in promoting Biden’s plan before and possibly after its expiration to highlight its benefits.
Josh Lederman and Julie Tsirkin contributed.