President Joe Biden is unveiling a $2 trillion infrastructure proposal that the administration says will create jobs and build new roads and bridges, and improves broadband, water quality, schools, and more.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is traveling in Iowa during the Easter Recess, says he has read about only some of the basics of what’s being called the American Jobs Plan.
“I only have a broad outline of it,” Grassley says. “It’s going to, according to the Post, it’s going to take until July to finally pass the legislation so there’s a lot of details that I’m going to have to see through.”
Early reports show the proposal includes $115 billion to repair and rebuild roads and bridges, $100 billion to improve and build new schools, $100 billion for expanding high-speed internet connections and another $100 billion to improve our power infrastructure.
Grassley says he wants to know where the $2 trillion will come from in the budget.
“Paying for it is very, very important,” Grassley says. “The tax policy probably isn’t as important to me as the spending policy.”
The Biden administration says the massive measure includes a series of elements for infrastructure overhauls, which are desirable to both Democrats and Republicans. “It really needs to be bipartisan,” Grassley says. “I think that we’ll see how seriously they take bipartisanship. They sure didn’t take it very seriously in regard to the $1.9 (trillion dollar) COVID package that they put together.”
Democrats control the U.S. Senate thanks only to the tie-breaking vote of the vice president, while that same party holds a narrow majority in the House.
