On rare occasions the moon will block out the sun, a volcano erupts, you will catch a foul ball at a baseball game and, rarest of all, bipartisanship will occur in Washington.
We are witnessing one of those cherished rarities now. The Senate is taking up an infrastructure bill that is a compromise crafted by Democrats and Republicans.
The deal includes $550 billion in new federal spending on traditional infrastructure: $110 billion for roads and bridges, $65 billion for the power grid, $65 billion for broadband, $55 billion for water infrastructure, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, $25 billion for airports and $17 billion for ports and waterways.
The rest of the package includes previously approved spending, bringing the total to $1.2 trillion.
The Senators have cobbled together a variety of pay-fors. The biggest chunk—$258 billion—comes from unused Covid relief and enhanced unemployment dollars. As usual, there is some creative math, such as the projected $56 billion in economic growth resulting from a “33 percent return on investment” from the infrastructure projects.
West Virginia’s Senator Shelley Moore Capito deserves credit for getting things moving on infrastructure. As ranking Republican on the Energy and Public Works Committee, she worked in a bipartisan fashion with Democratic Chairman Senator Tom Carper on infrastructure bills.
Capito also lead the Republican efforts to negotiate a deal with President Biden. That deal never materialized, but it kept the channels of communication open and laid the groundwork.
Of course, nothing in Washington is simple. Senators will open the bill up for amendments this week. That could bog down, but at least it is the regular order of business. The problem is on the House side.
House Speaker Nancy Pelsoi has said that chamber will not take up the infrastructure bill until the Senate approves the $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” bill. That legislation includes universal pre-kindergarten, lots of green energy spending, subsidized childcare, paid leave, free community college, lower prescription drug prices, expanded Medicare benefits and much more.
Republicans and moderate Democrats, including Joe Manchin of West Virginia, are balking at the linkage. “I believe it is the will of the public to take these two bills separately,” Manchin said on MetroNews Talkline Monday.
Pelosi may just be protecting her left flank. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday that at least ten House Democrats would vote against the infrastructure bill if the Senate does not approve the $3.5 trillion plan.
That is an eye-catching maneuver, but it ignores the fact that the bills were split in two in the first place because there was not enough support in the Senate for the total package.
America’s infrastructure is crumbling in many places. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2021 Report Card, an estimated six billion gallons of treated water are lost every day because of line breaks, 43 percent of our roads are in poor or mediocre condition, there are 10,000 miles of levees whose location and condition are unknown.
Holding one bill hostage to create leverage for another is nothing new in politics, but Democrats should be careful what they wish for. If the deal blows up it will be their fault. Try explaining that to Americans who want their roads fixed, waterlines repaired and high speed internet available.