TOPLINE
Although House Democrats passed a massive $1.5 trillion infrastructure proposal earlier this week, the Senate didn’t take it up before the weekend—and the bill is now facing near certain death as both top Republicans and the White House have said they will oppose the legislation.
Republicans ridiculed the bill and vowed it would die in the Senate.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEY FACTS
With Congress gone for the 4th of July holiday, the Senate went on recess without taking up House Democrats’ recently passed infrastructure bill—and amid near-uniform Republican opposition, it’s likely that the legislation is now officially dead.
The Democratic House of Representatives approved the Moving Forward Act, which was first unveiled in June, largely along party lines in a 233-188 vote on Wednesday.
But top Republicans were quick to declare the bill dead on arrival in the Senate: “Naturally this nonsense is not going anywhere,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said earlier this week.
House Republicans condemned the legislation as partisan, saying that their views were not included in the process, while Democrats said the bill was passed without Republican involvement because they’ve lost patience waiting for a bipartisan infrastructure deal to materialize.
There is concern among Democrats that Republicans strongly oppose the legislation—and any future bills like it—for including a host of measures aimed at fighting climate change, such as reducing carbon emissions.
McConnell, for his part, has said he would not bring it to the Senate floor for debate, while President Trump recently criticized the bill as “full of wasteful ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives” and indicated that he would veto it.
Big number: Over 700
That’s how many cities plan to delay or cancel infrastructure projects because of budget cuts amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent survey from the National League of Cities (NLC). This will “not only stifle job growth and slow local economic activity, but further jeopardize economic recovery efforts in communities across the nation,” said Clarence Anthony, CEO of the NLC. “Without congressional action now, the forced delay or cancellation of infrastructure projects will create an economic ripple effect throughout the nation not felt in decades.”
Crucial quote
“This so-called infrastructure bill would siphon billions in funding from actual infrastructure to funnel into climate change policies,” McConnell said on the Senate floor earlier this week. “It will just join the list of absurd House proposals that were only drawn up to show fealty to the radical left,” he added.
What to watch for
The House Democrats’ $1.5 Trillion infrastructure proposal includes more than $300 billion for repairing bridges and roads, over $100 billion for low-income schools, $100 billion for new public transit funding and $100 billion for public housing. It also includes $25 billion for clean drinking water, $100 billion for broadband, $70 billion for clean energy projects and $25 billion for the United States Postal Service.
Key background
One of Trump’s key campaign promises has been an infrastructure plan. But talks for a bipartisan piece of legislation blew up in May 2019, when Democrats said President Trump walked out of a meeting and demanded they stop investigating him. Now, Trump has renewed a push to address infrastructure with the economy in disarray due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the November 2020 presidential election draws nearer, Trump has made the economy one of his central focuses for staying in office. Infrastructure is a bipartisan issue, painted as a way to spur job growth; With tens of millions of job losses amid the pandemic, it could again become a central focus for lawmakers going into the second half of 2020. Democratic nominee Joe Biden, for example, put forward an infrastructure plan worth more than $1 trillion as part of his platform.
Further reading
House Democrats Introduce $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill (Forbes)