On Infrastructure, Lofty Ideas Collide With Congressional Reality

"Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.) says he will oppose President Biden’s infrastructure package if a cap on state and local tax deductions is not erased. “No SALT, no deal,” he said in an interview.

Rep. Cindy Axne (D-Iowa) said she has pressed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other officials to add money for biofuel infrastructure, which would help her state. “I am hoping this was an oversight and that they will support it,” she said.

Business lobbyists, meanwhile, are privately urging the White House to drop the $400 billion home- and elder-care provisions to cut the bill’s cost and the corporate tax hikes needed to fund it. “The home-care provisions have been heavily attacked and are just vulnerable right now,” admitted one White House adviser, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations."

Seung Min Kim, Marianna Sotomayor, Jeff Stein, and Tony Romm report for the Washington Post April 18, 2021.

Source: Washington Post, 04/19/2021