(The middle place) – A group of Republican US Senators has unveiled a $ 568 billion plan aimed at rebuilding and expanding infrastructure nationwide and countering a more expensive proposal by President Joe Biden.
The GOP plan includes $ 299 billion for roads and bridges, $ 61 billion for public transportation systems, and $ 65 billion for broadband infrastructure. Also included in the plan is $ 20 billion for rail, $ 35 billion for drinking water and wastewater, $ 13 billion for security, $ 17 billion for ports and inland waterways, and $ 44 billion for airports and $ 14 billion for water storage.
The bill emphasizes the acceleration of projects through regulatory processes and various measures to minimize new expenditure. The plan provides for reusing unused federal COVID-19 aid funds and ensuring that federal debt is not increased.
The US Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, Pat Toomey, John Barrasso and Roger Wicker recently discussed the infrastructure plan at a press conference.
"This is the largest infrastructure investment the Republicans have made," said Capito. "This is a robust package when we look at where we focus our infrastructure needs."
Republican senators hope the proposal will restart talks on a bipartisan infrastructure package.
“Our focus today is on saying what our concepts are as Republicans, what infrastructure means, what our pay principles are, and saying to President Biden and his team and our Democratic colleagues, we are ready to join sit down and get to work, ”said Capito. "The biggest message we want to bring out today is that this is important to us."
Biden presented a $ 2 trillion infrastructure spending package on March 31, called the American Jobs Plan, which included $ 115 billion for roads and bridges and $ 85 billion for public transportation systems.
The Biden proposal also included a broader definition of infrastructure, adding affordable housing projects and childcare facilities to the plan. Most worrying for Biden's critics, however, is his plan to pay for it.
The president has proposed a substantial corporate tax increase, raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and introducing a number of changes to tax law targeting larger companies.
During the press conference, each Republican senator made it clear that their definition of infrastructure was stricter than the broader interpretation the Biden administration used in their plan.
"I'm excited to make an offer 10 days after meeting the president that should really address what most Americans consider infrastructure," said Wicker. "As Senator Capito said," What is infrastructure? "It's highways, bridges, water and sewage, ports and rails, airports, and we all agree that broadband is part of it."
At a press conference on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was optimistic about talks between Senate Republicans and the Biden government over a bipartisan infrastructure plan.
"The president has said from the start that he would welcome any bona fide effort to find common ground as the only unacceptable step would be inaction," said Psaki. "We look forward to reviewing the details of the proposal."
Senator Bernie Sanders has blown the Republican proposal, stating that his funding and action plans have not gone far enough.
"It is a far cry from what needs to be done to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and funding is totally regressive and anti-working at a time of massive income and wealth inequality," said Sanders.
The Republican Senators Group insists that this proposal is only the basis for further negotiations with the White House and Senate Democrats.