The U.S. Senate held an unusual meeting on the 1st (local time), on a holiday, to report on an infrastructure investment bill that the Joe Biden administration had negotiated with moderates from Democrats and Republicans. The bill, which has a total of 2702 pages, is to invest $1.2 trillion (about 1383 trillion won) over eight years to improve infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water supply, and broadband networks. This puts a green light on Congressional passage of a massive infrastructure investment bill proposed by President Biden at the end of March as “the largest US job investment since World War II.” It is evaluated that President Biden’s determination to pass the bill with bipartisan support through negotiations despite extreme political polarization has brought the first fruits to the fore.
The bill, which was spearheaded by Republican Senator Rob Portman and Democratic Senator Kirsten Synema, and with dozens of lawmakers from both parties, raised the budget to $1.2 trillion, half that of President Biden’s $2.25 trillion. reduced The federal budget will be increased by $550 billion (about 634 trillion won), and the rest will be financed by adjusting the budget allocated to the existing Corona 19 economic stimulus corporation or infrastructure investment plan.
“Tonight, we are proudly announcing this bill,” said Senator Synema. “This bill will modernize our country’s outdated infrastructure, and it’s good for everyone,” said Portman.
Senators from both parties and the White House declared a deal on the infrastructure bill on the 28th of last month, and the Senate held a procedural vote to open discussion of the bill, and passed it with 67 in favor and 32 against. All 50 Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents and 17 Republicans voted in favor. In the Senate, where Democrats and Republicans are split 50-50, they succeeded in gathering more than 60 people to break through the Republican Party’s filibuster of legitimacy. Since only the main principles of the bill were presented when the procedural vote was passed, the Senate received a report on the specific bill that day.
The infrastructure bill has been a top legislative agenda for President Biden. However, the Republican opposition to the massive fiscal investment was strong. The plan to raise the corporate tax cut during the former Donald Trump administration to raise money and raise tax increases for the wealthy also drew opposition from Republicans as well as some Democrats in the House of Representatives. Progressive Democrats argued that the filibuster should be neutralized by activating the budget adjustment power to pass the bill with 50 senators in favor and the casting boat of Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves as the chairman of the Senate, but it was difficult for all Democrats to approve.
In the end, President Biden withdrew some of the requirements and did everything he could to build bipartisan support for the bill to pass. Key White House advisers, including senior adviser Schive Richetti and Chairman of the National Economic Council, Brian Dess, and cabinet members such as Commerce Secretary Jira Ramondo were deployed to negotiate with Republican senators in turn to narrow the issue. Earlier last month, negotiations with Capito Republican Senator Sherry Moore broke down after failing to resolve disagreements, and negotiations with other Republicans including Bill Cassidy and Portman continued.
The two sides negotiated to establish principles such as corporate tax, middle class income tax, and the exclusion of fuel tax increases, and then expanded the scope of items that could be agreed upon. “There’s a difference between hostile negotiations and cooperative negotiations,” said Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who participated in the negotiations. .
President Biden had frequent phone calls with Republican politicians to support negotiations. He used his network and negotiation skills accumulated while in the midst of Washington politics for 46 years, including 38 years as a senator and 8 years as a vice president.
Although the infrastructure bill has crossed the threshold for a Senate debate to begin, it is not entirely without variables until its final passage. In the course of the discussion, differences of opinion may arise, and the opposition from the progressives of the Democratic Party that important items are omitted should be read carefully. It is true, however, that the likelihood of passing a bill that seemed impossible has increased.
The Washington Post pointed out that this case serves as evidence that President Biden’s insistence on bipartisanism, which seeks bilateral cooperation, can be successful even in the face of extreme political polarization. “Of course, neither side has achieved everything they wanted in this agreement,” Biden said in a statement released on the 28th of last month.
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