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Infrastructure bill thread

JuiceCrewAllStar

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Seems like the first round of Democrat discontent is trickling out (both reports copy-and-pasted from the Guardian live feed):

Senator Joe Manchin, whose vote will likely determine whether Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan can pass the Senate, has expressed criticism of the proposal.

In a radio interview with a local West Virginia station today, Machin said he had serious concerns about Biden’s plan to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% to help pay for the legislation.

“As the bill exists today, it needs to be changed,” the Democratic senator said.

Manchin said he was open to the idea of raising the corporate tax rate to 25%, but he expressed concern that raising it to 28% would make the US less competitive.

Manchin added, “If I don’t vote to get on it, it’s not going anywhere.”

Biden said last week that he hoped Congress would negotiate over his proposal, but he stressed the need to pass an infrastructure bill.

“Congress should debate my plan, change it, and offer alternatives if they think that’s what they have to do,” the president said on Friday. “But Congress should act.





Joe Biden and his administration are frantically trying to build momentum in Congress to pass the president’s $2tn infrastructure plan.

However, members of both parties are already raising concerns about the proposal, which Biden officially introduced last week.

Republicans have signaled they do not intend to support the plan because of Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to help pay for the legislation.

And now Democrats are making similar complaints. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D., Ore.), the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he didn’t think paying for the full cost of the plan through tax increases was necessary. Mr. DeFazio said he would support an increase in the gas and diesel tax to pay for the new investments over time, as well as more borrowing to cover part of the cost. ...

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) said he wanted to see the Biden administration consider alternatives to the corporate tax increases to try to court Republican support. ‘I think on the corporate piece, if it’s a nonstarter for the Republicans and it means we can’t get bipartisanship, I’m eager to hear their other ideas,’ he said, listing user fees as one possibility.

Mr. Gottheimer and other lawmakers from the New York area have also insisted that Congress restore the deduction for state and local taxes, which was capped at $10,000 in the 2017 tax law. [House speaker Nancy Pelosi] said she was sympathetic to that idea, while the White House has said lawmakers should propose a way for paying for the deduction.

Given his party’s narrow majorities in Congress, Biden needs to convince nearly every Democratic member of the House and the Senate to support his plan in order to get it passed.

As of now, it’s still unclear whether Biden will be able to get his own party on board.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
 
This is how China wins.

We are unable to get our shit together and do important shit.

Biden’s right, this is an opportunity to show that democracy can work. I’m afraid we’re failing, going to fail, the test.

Mostly I blame dishonest Republican obstruction. But it seems we have structural problems and processes that enable or encourage dishonest people and parties to care more about their own power than whatever is actually good for us collectively.
 
we are a rich country that acts poor because we value individual wealth way more than we value the common good. An infrastructure bill will never pass.
 
we are a rich country that acts poor because we value individual wealth way more than we value the common good. An infrastructure bill will never pass.

Well said. I think an infrastructure bill will pass though. Raise corporate taxes to 25% and tell Manchin to go find the rest.
 
Lol how did he arrive at seemingly random 25% as his acceptable corporate tax rate for global competition as opposed to 28%
 
I think Biden has a better chance than ever did Obama.

Or Trumpff.
 
Lol how did he arrive at seemingly random 25% as his acceptable corporate tax rate for global competition as opposed to 28%

He jus’ has t’ look like he’s standin’ up again’ them librul tax ‘n spenders.
 
Searching for bipartisan support is a losers bet. Why are any Dems still operating under the delusion that a single R will ever vote for anything?
 
Well said. I think an infrastructure bill will pass though. Raise corporate taxes to 25% and tell Manchin to go find the rest.

Full disclosure: I took that from a Jason Kottke post. The phrasing really stuck with me. I just tracked down the post so I could link to it:

But the main observation I came home with after this trip is this: America is a rich country that feels like a poor country. If you look at the investment in and the care put into infrastructure, common areas, and the experience of being in public in places like Singapore, Amsterdam, Paris, and Berlin and compare it to American cities, the difference is quite stark. Individual wealth in America is valued over collective wealth and it shows.

https://kottke.org/20/02/my-trip-to-vietnam-singapore-and-qatar
 
Just spelling it out for our board deplorables.
 
Lol how did he arrive at seemingly random 25% as his acceptable corporate tax rate for global competition as opposed to 28%

related, I saw a headline today where Yellen floated a global corporate tax
 
Lol how did he arrive at seemingly random 25% as his acceptable corporate tax rate for global competition as opposed to 28%

Simple - 25% is what China taxes American companies. Nothing random about it at all.

FWIW, Manchin has been saying today that there are 6-7 Democrat senators that also are against going to 28%. If Biden is serious about bipartisanship, I could see the Senate reaching 60 votes on 25%, however, there will have to be cuts out of the "infrastructure" package that is filled with plenty of non-infrastructure stuff.
 
Simple - 25% is what China taxes American companies. Nothing random about it at all.

FWIW, Manchin has been saying today that there are 6-7 Democrat senators that also are against going to 28%. If Biden is serious about bipartisanship, I could see the Senate reaching 60 votes on 25%, however, there will have to be cuts out of the "infrastructure" package that is filled with plenty of non-infrastructure stuff.

As long as McConnell is around, Biden is getting no votes on big issues from Republicans.
 
Simple - 25% is what China taxes American companies. Nothing random about it at all.

FWIW, Manchin has been saying today that there are 6-7 Democrat senators that also are against going to 28%. If Biden is serious about bipartisanship, I could see the Senate reaching 60 votes on 25%, however, there will have to be cuts out of the "infrastructure" package that is filled with plenty of non-infrastructure stuff.

Looks like there will be no need for GOP votes. The Parliamentarian says Dems can use reconciliation again to pass it using 50 votes
 
Sounds like this will end up going through reconciliation, so might as well throw Manchin his 25% bone and make sure there is plenty of EV and renewable energy infrastructure included. Manchin at least recognized Republicans have to come up with solutions if they want to be at the table. But get him on board and go big with jobs. Great opportunity to win over the blue collar industries.
 
25% has been pretty much known by insiders as what the final number was gonna be.
 
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