Biden Administration and Senators Agree to Infrastructure Deal

On Thursday afternoon, the Biden Administration and a bipartisan group of 10 senators agreed to an infrastructure framework that would commit approximately $579 billion of new investment in roads, bridges, tunnels, waterways, speed rail, the electrical grid, and high-speed internet access. Here are some key takeaways from the infrastructure proposal:

• No new tax increases were mentioned.
• The Biden Administration’s original proposal was over an eight-year period, as compared to the bipartisan proposal, which is over five years.
• Approximately $80 billion of unallocated pandemic relief is expected to be used to pay for the proposed package.
• Some of the cost of the plan will be covered by re-purposing existing federal funds, public-private partnerships and revenue collected from increased enforcement by the IRS.

The infrastructure proposal appears to omit previously-discussed funding for the building or retrofitting of affordable and public housing units, the construction or rehabilitation of middle-income housing and the erection or renovation of public schools, community colleges, child care facilities, Veterans Affairs’ hospitals and federal buildings.

It is widely expected that further infrastructure and climate measures will be pushed through the budget reconciliation process later this year. The infrastructure deal still needs to be passed by both chambers of Congress. Stay tuned to CLAconnect.com for further updates.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg Tax, The Real Deal