- The president's massiveinfrastructure plan
faces stiff resistancein the months ahead.
Republicans calling it abig liberal spending agenda
that comes with major tax hikes,
while on the left, progressiveDemocrats are demanding
even more money to tacklethings like climate change.
President Biden says he's opento negotiating the details
of the two trillion dollarplus package; however...
- Here's what we won't be open to.
We will not be open to doing nothing.
Inaction simply is not an option.
- [George] While theplan calls for spending
around $820 billion on roads, bridges,
railways, airports, and power grids,
there's also massive amounts of money
going to projects that Republicans say
isn't related to infrastructure,
like $400 billion for carefor the elderly and disabled.
- This package that they'velaid out at the beginning,
styled infrastructure, is a Trojan horse
for massive tax increasesand a whole lot of more debt
and a whole lot of spending.
- [George] Republicanssay that extra spending
coming from Democratsstretching the definition
of infrastructure.
New York's DemocraticSenator Kirsten Gillibrand
getting flak after she tweeted
that, "Paid leave is infrastructure.
Child care is infrastructure.
Caregiving is infrastructure."
Republicans like Ted Cruz pushing back.
"Abortion is infrastructure.
Gun control is infrastructure.
Forced unionization is infrastructure.
Whatever the left wants isinfrastructure," Cruz tweeted.
Politico estimated thatonly about 37% of the bill
will be spent on what thepresident himself defines
as infrastructure projects.
The president defending theamount of spending in the bill.
- I've heard from my Republican friends,
say that it's, may ofthem say it's too big.
They say, "Why not focus ontraditional infrastructure?"
We are America.
We don't just fix for today.
We build for tomorrow.
- [George] The presidentwants to fund his agenda
by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%,
rolling back former PresidentTrump's 2017 tax cuts,
and expanding the globalminimum tax rate to 21%.
Republican lawmakers andbusiness groups argue
the hikes will crushAmerican competitiveness.
- What the president proposed this week
is not an infrastructure bill.
It's a huge tax increase, for one thing,
and it's a tax increaseon small businesses,
on job creators in theUnited States of America.
- [George] Democrats hoping to use
a budget reconciliation process
to bypass Republican opposition
got a major setback fromone of their very own today.
West Virginia Senator JoeManchin, a key Democrat,
said, under no circumstances,would he support passing
bills like the infrastructure one
without Republican support.
"I simply do not believebudget reconciliation
should replace regularorder in the Senate,"
Manchin wrote in "The Washington Post."
"Senate Democrats mustavoid the temptation
to abandon our Republican colleagues
on important national issues."
George Thomas, CBN News.
