The Republicans have opposed Biden’s sweeping initiative since it was launched on Wednesday, particularly criticizing tax hikes on companies that would reverse much of their 2017 tax law.
“Let’s work together and see if there is a way to make this happen. In the end, let me make it clear that the president was chosen to do a job. And part of that job is to prepare this country to win the future. He will do that, ”said Klain to Politico. “We intend to deliver.”
Legislators from both parties have traditionally backed infrastructure investments, but Republicans have never backed the scale of clean energy policies or tax increases that Biden’s new plan entails. If Republicans agree if they oppose the move, Democrats could, by a slim majority, lead them through the Senate through a parliamentary process known as budget balancing, up to the 60-vote threshold required to end a filibuster to bypass. The 100-seat Senate is split 50-50 between lawmakers meeting with Democrats and Republicans, though Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a groundbreaking vote.
The comments from Biden’s Chief of Staff mark the beginning of the difficult legal battle that is expected to take months over the White House’s major domestic policy initiative. Biden’s American employment plan would allocate more than $ 600 billion to America’s physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and highways. Clean energy loans of approximately $ 400 billion; more than $ 200 billion for housing; and hundreds of billions to repair the country’s power grid, high-speed broadband, and lead water pipes, among other things.
Republicans in Congress viewed the plan as fraught with wasteful spending and damage to American businesses. Biden’s plan would raise taxes of at least $ 2 trillion, including raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and raising the global minimum tax to 21 percent.
“Biden’s so-called” job “proposal is a clear attempt to transform the economy by advancing progressive priorities in unprecedented ways. The proposal would aggressively reduce the use of traditional energy resources and eliminate well-paying jobs in West Virginia and across the country, ”said Senator Shelley Moore Capito (RW.Va.), senior Republican on the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. “Perhaps worst of all, it would weigh on the American economy with tax increases as our country tries to recover from economic difficulties.”
During the debate on the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan, Biden and other White House officials ranked Republicans in Congress by saying the plan was bipartisan because it was backed by GOP voters. No Republican supported the move, either in the House or in the Senate. Klain suggested repeating a similar argument about the infrastructure plan.
“We know that there is bipartisan support in the country. So we’ll do our best to get bipartisan support in Washington, ”said Klain. Klain said, “You can go to a Rotary club in America every week and find elected leaders at all levels of government” to help rebuild the country’s conduit and other infrastructure.
During his speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Biden said he would invite Republicans to the Oval Office to discuss the measure and “negotiate in good faith” with their ideas. “There is no reason why it cannot be bipartisan again,” said Biden, citing the GOP’s support for other infrastructure measures. “But we have to do it.”