From the perspective of sustainability, for Republicans and Democrats alike, there is a real need to fix our nation’s infrastructure. Unfortunately, attempts at reaching agreement have been blocked in the Senate for several reasons, but there is a new compromise backed by President Biden and a number of Democrats and Republicans that the Alliance supports.
Please take a minute to call or email your US senators to voice your support for the infrastructure plan compromise. In addition, take a moment to send a message to Congress that reiterates the commitment needed for a more comprehensive plan. Here’s some more background:
Since he took office, President Joe Biden has been working on the passage of his American Jobs Plan – a $1.7 trillion initiative aimed at reshaping the country’s infrastructure and building the economy back stronger and more sustainably. He also has proposed the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan geared towards “human infrastructure” improvements. The Alliance supports both but all Senate Republicans and several Democrats have objected to several aspects of the American Jobs Plan, leading it to be blocked by the Senate.
Last Thursday, President Biden and a group of 11 Republican, 10 moderate Democratic and one Independent Senators reached a breakthrough, a deal that “made serious compromises on both ends.” The result is a bill providing $579 billion in new spending towards traditional infrastructure, which includes roads, public transportation, and electric vehicle infrastructure. There was also agreement on a range of funding mechanisms that excluded Democratic calls for tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and Republican proposed user taxes.
However, many progressives were disappointed and threatened opposition because it did not include efforts to address the climate crisis nor social infrastructure. President Biden tried to assure progressives that he would work to pass those aspects in a budget bill through the “reconciliation process” that allows passage by a simple majority as opposed to the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
This becomes one of those tough calls in policy where the question is raised as to what is possible and whether there should be a compromise to assure at least something gets done or risk that nothing may be passed pushing for additional key elements.
The Alliance supports the proposed compromise while at the same time calling for passage of climate action and social infrastructure through budget reconciliation and the passage of the American Jobs Plan.
Regardless of your perspective, we feel it’s important for your US Senators to hear from you so that they know this matters to you. This is a critical time as Senators return home for the July Fourth break and they need to hear from constituents.