Progressive Democrats are calling on President Biden to abandon the infrastructure talks with Republicans, amping up pressure on the White House to go it alone on a sweeping, multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package.
Negotiations began in April and are expected to drag into early June, when Congress returns from recess, as the two sides remain fiercely divided on the next economic spending package – and how to pay for it.
Biden laid out the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan last month, which would rebuild roads and bridges, expand broadband service, invest billions into green energy and fighting climate change and create programs to help bolster care for elderly and disabled Americans. The measure would be funded by raising taxes on big corporations.
But Republicans oppose the size and scope of Biden’s proposal, which they say is too expensive and strays too far from “traditional” infrastructure, and have resisted any effort to roll back part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. To pay for the plans, Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and imposing a higher global minimum on U.S. companies’ foreign earnings.
