Tag: Biden American Jobs Plan

Voters Overwhelmingly Support Biden Infrastructure Plan As GOP Plots Obstruction

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A day after Senate Republicans blocked debate on a bipartisan infrastructure deal, a new poll shows about two-thirds of American voters back the framework.

On Thursday, Navigator Research released a survey of 1,000 registered voters, finding 66 percent supported the plan — agreed upon in June by President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators — which would invest $579 billion in transportation, broadband, and water system infrastructure. That framework was backed by 86 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of independents, and a 46 percent plurality of Republicans.

Although 11 Republican senators agreed on the outlines of a deal in June, every single one of them — and the entire GOP caucus — voted on Wednesday to filibuster a motion to start debate on the bill. Because the motion required a three-fifths supermajority vote, the Democratic majority was stymied in its attempt to even take the plan up for consideration. Attempts to salvage an agreement are ongoing. Continue reading.

GOP blocks infrastructure debate as negotiators near deal

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Republicans on Wednesday blocked the Senate from debating a bipartisan infrastructure proposal as negotiators say they are near finalizing their agreement. 

The 49-51 vote fell short of the 60 needed to advance what is effectively stand-in legislation that senators will swap the bipartisan group’s text into once it is finished.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) changed his vote late in a procedural move that allows him to bring it back up for a second vote quickly. Continue reading.

Minnesota mayors urge support of massive infrastructure bill

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Noting the potential payoffs to Minn., they urge the state’s congressional delegation to do same. 

DULUTH – Duluth’s working seaport supports 8,000 jobs and, along with the port in neighboring Superior, Wis., $1.4 billion in economic activity.

That’s a key driver for Duluth Mayor Emily Larson’s support of President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill scheduled for a procedural vote Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, she said at a news conference Monday.

Minnesota members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and two of the state’s business leaders met virtually to urge Minnesota’s congressional delegation to support the bill, focusing heavily on its bipartisan nature. The eight-year plan would invest in public works projects, including roads, bridges, broadband, public transit and passenger rail. Continue reading.

Poll: Big Majority Supports Biden Spending Plans, Bipartisan Or Not

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More than three-fifths of likely voters want Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s spending plans, even if the Democratic majority has to do so without a single Republican vote, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by Data for Progress for Invest in America, which campaigns for public investment in infrastructure, was released Tuesday. It found 62 percent support for passage of Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the Senate to pass taxation and spending bills by a simple majority vote.

Such a move is backed by 86 percent of Democratic voters, 59 percent of independents, and 36 percent of Republicans. Continue reading.

White House to Democrats: Get ready to go it alone on infrastructure

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White House officials told House Democrats Tuesday to get ready to go it alone on infrastructure if bipartisan talks founder, setting the stage for party leaders to tap an obscure budget procedure to move President Biden‘s top domestic priority without Republican support.

Huddling in person in the Capitol for the first time since the COVID-19 crisis hit, members of the House Democratic Caucus were briefed by Steve Ricchetti, a top adviser to Biden, and Shalanda Young, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, who said they would give Senate negotiators seven to 10 days to reach a bipartisan agreement, according to Democrats in the meeting.

If no deal is reached in that time, the officials said, Democrats will gauge the progress of those talks and charge ahead with a partisan package if need be. Continue reading.

How President Biden’s Agenda Can Help Eliminate Child Care Dilemma Across Minnesota

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Minnesota daycare owner Liz Harris: “If you want a stable economy that is strong, you have to have child care.”

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for Minnesota’s working families, as child care options became even more unaffordable and enrollment decreased. While Minnesota received $325 million in federal funding from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan to support the state’s child care industry amid the pandemic, more must be done — and Democrats in Washington have introduced two historic plans that would invest millions more in Minnesota’s children and families.

“It’s far past time for congressional Republicans to join Democrats and a majority of Americans — including Republican voters — in delivering this once-in-a-century opportunity for hard-working Minnesotans by passing both the American Families Plan and the American Jobs Plan,” said Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin. “The GOP should stop playing partisan politics with our children’s future and support common-sense policies that support Minnesota’s working families.”

Continue reading “How President Biden’s Agenda Can Help Eliminate Child Care Dilemma Across Minnesota”

Biden’s jobs plan wins big support in small business survey — even on raising taxes

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President Joe Biden has proposed raising the United States corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, although he has suggested that he is willing to compromise and raise it to 25% instead if necessary. And according to a new survey by the organization Small Business for American’s Future, most small business owners in the United States are in favor of a corporate tax hike.

The survey was conducted from April 17 to May 5, and 1,052 small business owners participated. Small Business for America’s Future found that eight in ten of them supported Biden’s American Jobs Plan, and 67% of the participants favored raising corporate taxes in order to pay for it.

According to Small Business for America’s Future, “76% of small business owners think the American Jobs Plan will boost the economy, and 72% say it will help small businesses specifically; 51% of small business owners say raising taxes on Americans making more than $400,000 would not harm small businesses.” Continue reading.

McConnell: No Senate Republicans will back Biden on $4T

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Monday that he expected no Republicans would support President Biden‘s sweeping infrastructure package, indicating GOP lawmakers are open to a roughly $600 billion bill.

“I think it’s worth talking about but I don’t think there will be any Republican support — none, zero — for the $4.1 trillion grab bag which has infrastructure in it but a whole lot of other stuff,” McConnell said in a press conference in Kentucky.

Biden has proposed a sweeping roughly $4 trillion infrastructure package broken up into two pieces: A $2.3 trillion jobs package and a $1.8 trillion families package. While the package includes money for roads, bridges and broadband, it also expands into manufacturing, in-home care, housing, clean energy, public schools and manufacturing. Continue reading.

ABC Anchor Fact-Checks GOP Senator’s False Claim About Infrastructure Spending

ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz immediately corrected Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) on Sunday when he tossed out a falsehood on the Biden administration’s infrastructure proposal. In recent weeks, Republicans have repeatedly claimed that only six percent of the $2 trillion spending plan is devoted to “traditional” infrastructure, something that fact-checkers have found to be untrue.

With Republican senators unveiling a $548 billion counteroffer, Barrasso repeated the false claim on ABC’s This Week, claiming that while “only six percent of the money goes to bridges and things,” the rest of Biden’s plan is focused on “electric cars.” Raddatz immediately corrected the record.

“The six percent for roads and bridges figures you and other GOP leaders have cited has been fact-checked multiple times. The total amount for what you have called traditional infrastructure, roads, bridges, waterways, public transit is more than 25 percent of the Biden plan,” she noted. The Republican lawmaker, for his part, did not object to the fact check. Continue reading.

Biden’s Betting On Public Support To Push His Agenda. Polls Show His Big Spending Packages Have It.

In his address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, President Biden spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of the three massive spending packages that have quickly become centerpieces of his agenda: the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, a $2 trillion infrastructure bill and a $1.8 trillion plan for child care, universal prekindergarten and more.

The first part of Biden’s agenda, his coronavirus stimulus package, has consistently garnered high approval numbers— both when it was first being considered and when it was enacted last month. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll(conducted April 18-21) has found that it’s still popular: 65 percent of Americans support it, and just 31 percent oppose it.

But what about the other two plans, which have yet to make it through Congress? Continue reading.