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Democracy Dies in Darkness

Economic Policy

Patience, persistence pay off as Biden brings

infrastructure package across finish line
Bipartisan deal would have rami3cations for roads, bridges, ports, and broadband access across the
entire country, delivering on a campaign promise.
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Biden speaks after Congress passes infrastructure deal

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President Biden celebrated his administration’s infrastructure deal on Nov. 6, the morning after Congress
approved the $1.2 trillion bill. (The Washington Post)

By JeH Stein
Today at 6:00 a.m. EDT | Updated today at 1:59 p.m. EDT

Less than 10 months after taking office and several days after his party
suffered a stinging defeat in the Virginia governor’s race, President Biden
achieved one of his long-sought goals: a bipartisan agreement that would
make major investments in all 50 states for years to come.

Shortly before midnight on Friday, when the House of Representatives

passed the bill 228-206 with the backing of more than 10 Republicans,
Biden’s slumping political fortunes appeared to suddenly change. After
seeing his poll numbers slide for weeks, he had suddenly fulfilled a core
campaign promise and notched a major victory after months of legislative
gridlock.

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to suggest that we took a monumental

step forward as a nation,” Biden said Saturday morning at the White
House, flanked by Vice President Harris. “We did something long
overdue, that has long been talked about in Washington, but never
actually done.”

[What's in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package.]

Biden called the bill a “once-in-a-generation” investment that would

create millions of jobs and improve America’s economic standing.

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Biden said the measure included the most significant investment in roads
and bridges in 70 years; the most significant investment in passenger rail
in 50 years; and the most significant investment in public transit in
history. Biden said he and Harris would have a formal signing ceremony
for the measure “soon,” citing the desire for those who worked on the
legislation to be able to attend.

“For all you at home who feel left behind and forgotten in an economy
that’s changing so rapidly — this bill is for you,” Biden said. “The vast
majority of the thousands of jobs that will be created do not require a
college degree.”

“This is a blue collar blueprint to rebuild America, and it’s long overdue.”

[Buttigieg's new tool to speed up projects.]

Biden also said both the House and Senate would approve a separate
climate and social spending package but did not specify a deadline. He
also declined to comment on whether the centrist lawmakers who
primarily supported the infrastructure package had committed to
supporting that broader, roughly $2 trillion piece of legislation that has
pitted centrist Democrats against liberals for months. Biden said he would
not comment on private conversations.

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Those hurdles await. On Saturday, he seemed to bask in the hurdle he had

just cleared. The approximately $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill — which
includes roughly $550 billion in new spending — will soon go to his desk
for signature, and he said Saturday he would invite Democrats and
Republicans to a ceremony so they could have the moment together.

The Senate first passed the infrastructure bill in August with a 69-30 vote,
a rare moment of bipartisanship, the type of partnership he had
committed to during the 2020 campaign. The measure had languished in
the House for several months, though, as liberal lawmakers sought to use
their leverage over the plan to advance Biden’s larger climate and social
spending bill, but Democrats reached a deal late Friday night to proceed.
And the bill finally passed, shortly before midnight.

The breakthrough followed a brutal election night for Democrats on

Tuesday and a summer in which the White House was roiled by the messy
withdrawal from Afghanistan and the surging coronavirus delta variant.

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But with the infrastructure bill’s passage, Biden has suddenly achieved
milestones that his predecessors only reached for. He has pulled U.S. Advertisement
troops out of Afghanistan, ending the U.S.'s longest war, something
President Donald Trump and President Barack Obama had hoped to do.
And he will soon sign an infrastructure package that Trump had promised
but never built the political coalition to achieve.

[Sinema's silence on spending bill vexes many Democrats as she digs in

out of public view.]

Once law, the infrastructure package would be the second major

legislative achievement of Biden’s presidency, following the March
stimulus law. But unlike that measure, the infrastructure package enjoyed
broad bipartisan support, winning even the backing of Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The stimulus plan was also aimed at
addressing short-term problems in the American economy, while the
infrastructure plan is aimed at more lasting change.

Biden had tried to encourage a bipartisan approach to the bill for months,
hoping it would serve as a model for other initiatives.

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Some of the key authors of the bill, such as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-
Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), sought to break through partisan
gridlock and deliver a package that conservatives and liberals would
support. They were able to design the bill in a way that won the backing of
business groups and labor unions without financing everything through
big tax increases.

Past Democratic and Republican administrations have failed to secure

such infrastructure legislation despite growing calls for action from labor
leaders, the business community, and experts alarmed by the nation’s
degrading public works systems. Trump had long talked about passing a
massive infrastructure package, but his advisers never coalesced around a
strategy and “Infrastructure Week” became a running joke among his
aides. As those efforts languished, America’s infrastructure problems
grew, eventually ranking behind a dozen other developed countries,
raising concerns about safety and the nation’s economic competitiveness.

“It’s a game-changer for the country: The first comprehensive

infrastructure plan we’ve had since Dwight D. Eisenhower created the
interstate highway system” in the 1950s, said Ed Rendell, a Biden
supporter and former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. “It will be a
big shot in the arm.”

[Infrastructure measure includes fund to ensure nation’s transit stations

are accessible]

Biden gave lawmakers space to cut the deal, hosting Democrats and
Republicans to the White House over the summer as negotiations
intensified. He sought to pay for the new projects with higher taxes. When
lawmakers balked, he said he was open to other ideas. That created space
for Democrats and Republicans to cut a deal. The bill that passed the
Senate in August stayed intact over the past three months, but it remained
dormant while House Democrats fought over other parts of their party’s
agenda.

Biden’s poll numbers slid over that span as the bill remained tied up and
questions were raised about whether it would ever become law.

Americans would begin feeling the impact of the infrastructure legislation

in two to three months, as funding gets prepared for projects to start,
Biden said on Saturday.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Saturday that the

money would quickly help fund projects for safety on roads as well as state
highway and other transportation projects. He said funding for electric
vehicle charging stations and other brand new programs created by the
legislation could take longer.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was known for the “The New Deal” and
Theodore Roosevelt was known for “The Square Deal” but Biden’s agenda
represents “The Big Deal,” Buttigieg said.

“The work begins right away but it will go on for years to come,” Buttigieg
said.

Biden unveiled an approximately $2 trillion jobs plan this spring that

became the core the infrastructure proposal, as well as another $2 trillion
proposal focused on education, climate, and parts of the safety net that
Democrats are still debating in Congress.

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Major legislative obstacles to both packages slowed their progress, and for
months Washington has been consumed by gridlock and tense
negotiations that stretched on for days and generated negative publicity
for the administration.

[‘It’s a daydream’: Questions emerge about financing plans for

bipartisan infrastructure deal]

Many congressional aides were initially skeptical of Biden’s insistence on

a bipartisan infrastructure bill, believing that Republican lawmakers
would never coalesce around a deal with the White House. And many
Republicans did ultimately reject the measure, alleging it would amount
to wasteful spending. But 19 Republicans joined 50 Democrats in backing
the bill during the August vote. And more than 10 Republicans in the
House helped shepherd the bill into law Friday night.

Many of the Republicans who supported the measure were motivated by a

mixture of support for the underlying policies and a desire to show that
they could work with Biden productively if the White House chose to
pursue measures in a bipartisan way.

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“Passing major legislation in good faith shows that Democrats don’t need
to get rid of getting the filibuster, because Republicans will operate in
good faith when there’s an area for compromise — that was part of the
calculation for working with the president,” said Donald Schneider, who
served as chief economist to Republicans on the House Ways and Means
Committee.

Nonpartisan estimates have found the legislation will add more than $250
billion to the deficit over 10 years, as it relies on a series of revenue
gimmicks due to GOP aversion to raising taxes on the wealthy and the
White House’s refusal to raise taxes on Americans earning under
$400,000 per year.

Liberal economists say the measure only partially addresses the nation’s
economic needs and that the White House must be committed to doing far
more. Darrick Hamilton, an economist at the New School, said Biden’s
presidency would be “inadequate and incomplete” if he only passes the
bipartisan infrastructure bill. Biden’s plans to enact universal
prekindergarten, measures to combat climate change, and other welfare
expansions remain tied up in both the House and Senate, with no clear
resolution at hand.

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“If this is all we end up with, then it’s a missed opportunity and more of
the same,” Hamilton said. “it’s definitely not enough.”

Still, the White House will welcome the passage of even part of their
agenda. Biden’s approval rating has slipped steadily for months as the
administration was caught flat-footed by the resurgence of the pandemic,
unexpected inflation, and crises abroad. But on Friday, White House aides
saw reason to believe their fortunes could be turning — with signs of the
virus receding, the economy posting its best jobs data in months on
Friday, and progress emerging on long-stalled parts of the president’s
economic agenda.

Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania, urged the administration to

send senior officials to every significant infrastructure groundbreaking
across the country next year. He said every congressional Democrats
should hammer the following message: “President Trump could not do
infrastructure for years with a Republican Congress, but President Biden
delivered the biggest infrastructure package since Eisenhower.”

What you need to know about the infrastructure bill

The latest: House lawmakers late Friday adopted a roughly $1.2 trillion measure to
improve the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections, overcoming
their own internecine divides to secure a long-sought burst in federal investment and
deliver President Biden a major legislative win.

FAQ: Here’s what’s in the bill

More related stories:

Analysis: GOP erupts over its House members bailing out Biden

Patience, persistence pay oH as Biden brings infrastructure package across 3nish line

With infrastructure vote, Buttigieg gains a multibillion tool to speed up megaprojects

Show more

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