US Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday pledged to “fight every step of the way” the massive infrastructure investment plan presented by Joe Biden, which has only a narrow majority in Congress to pass his projects.
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The Democratic president wants to invest some $ 2 trillion over eight years in infrastructure, fighting climate change while creating “millions of jobs”. He intends to finance his plan by increasing corporate tax from 21% to 28%.
The White House says it wants to rally the support of Democrats, but also Republicans in Congress for these popular measures, she says, with voters of all stripes.
A prospect unlikely to believe the influential leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, who denounces a “Trojan horse” hiding tax increases.
“I think that the plan that they are implementing, although we would like to take care of the infrastructure, is not going to receive support from our side because I feel (…) that the last thing that is our economy needs at the moment it is a gigantic increase in taxes weighing on all the productive sectors of our economy ”, declared the senator Thursday.
“I will fight it every step of the way, because I believe it is the wrong recipe for America,” he added at a press conference in his state of Kentucky.
The Biden plan provides “more money for electric cars than for roads and bridges,” said Mitch McConnell.
Democrats control Congress, but their majorities are fragile, especially in the Senate where they hold 50 seats against 50 Republican senators. In the event of a tie, Vice-President Kamala Harris can decide a vote by stating her voice.
Democrats must normally have at least 60 votes to be able to submit their texts to a final vote.
But on some projects related to the budget, they can vote by simple majority. This is what they did to approve the plan to support the nearly $ 2 trillion economy in March. And what they could do again for major infrastructure projects.
In this event, all Democrats should vote as a bloc. However, some moderates could express reservations.
In the House of Representatives, the Democratic majority is a little more comfortable and while it cannot afford more than a handful of defections, its president, Nancy Pelosi, is hoping to be able to adopt the Biden plan in early July.