“Public housing has been neglected, and it’s getting worse and worse, and we won’t stand up for it anymore,” said Schumer. The president’s plan is “a good start, but not enough”.
Mr Sanders, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and allies envision the proposal, which will cost between $ 119 billion and $ 172 billion over 10 years to meet the needs of their constituents, according to an estimate by the New York Times. The aim is to create thousands of maintenance and construction jobs.
“Probably our best bet would be a bill – and it should be a big bill,” Sanders said in an interview. “I think it’s easier and more efficient for us to work as hard as possible on a comprehensive infrastructure plan that includes both human infrastructure and physical infrastructure.”
Republicans who have tried in recent years to arm the Green New Deal as a tremendous federal overreach that would harm the economy have already embraced the climate and housing provisions in Mr Biden’s plan well beyond the traditional definition of infrastructure. Mr Biden is also preparing a second proposal that could focus even more on projects outside what Republicans call “real” infrastructure, bringing the total cost to $ 4 trillion.
“Republicans are not going to work with Democrats on the Green New Deal or raising taxes to pay for it,” Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso said at a news conference last month. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, has repeatedly warned that the infrastructure plan is “a Trojan horse” for Liberal priorities, while Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican of House No. 2, stated last week that ” there is a lot of Green New Deal that would drive voters to turn away from the Democrats.
“I think the expansive definition of infrastructure we see in this type of Green New Deal wish-list is being challenged,” West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito told Fox News last week. “I don’t think Americans think of infrastructure when they think of housekeeping and other things that are in this bill.”
Recognizing the Republicans’ opposition to Mr Biden’s plan and the lure of bipartisan legislation, some lawmakers have raised the possibility of passing a smaller bill first dealing with roads, bridges, and broadband with Republican votes before the Democrats go fast Use the budget vote process to bypass the filibuster and push the rest of the legislative proposals unilaterally through both chambers.
