Senate Republicans now say they would be willing to support $1 trillion in infrastructure spending as a counteroffer to President Joe Biden’s sweeping proposal to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges and transit systems.
The GOP plan would amount to nearly $1 trillion over eight years – much more than Republicans’ original $568 billion counter proposal – and would be funded through repurposing unused COVID-19 relief money.
The $928 billion package, negotiated by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) would allocate more than $500 billion to rebuild roads and bridges. The plan calls for:
- $506 billion for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects, including $4 billion for electric vehicles.
- $98 billion for public transit.
- $72 billion for water systems.
- $65 billion for broadband.
- $56 billion for airports.
- $46 billion for passenger and freight rail systems.
- $22 billion for ports and waterways.
- $22 billion for water storage.
- $21 billion for safety efforts.
- $20 billion for infrastructure financing.
Biden’s latest offer to Republicans came in at $1.7 trillion — $600 billion less than his original plan. He had urged the GOP to put at least $1 trillion into an infrastructure package.
This is different from the just-announced Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021, which would establish new baseline funding of $303.5 billion for Department of Transportation programs to support highways, roads and bridges. That bipartisan plan, which was passed by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, also includes Capito’s input.
“Today’s counteroffer from Sen. Capito and Republican colleagues represents a good faith offer and is a significant step in the right direction,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley. “Discussions between the Biden administration and Congress must continue on a bipartisan basis. Recent success at the committee level, including yesterday’s unanimously-approved surface transportation reauthorization bill and a bipartisan water bill that passed the Senate 89-2, are models for addressing our nation’s infrastructure needs. These approaches now need to be emulated by the administration and Congress to ensure infrastructure legislation is enacted this summer. Fundamental, durable policy is not achieved when one political party pushes through legislation on their own. We urge continued bipartisan discussions so our nation’s infrastructure receives the modernization it desperately needs.”