A group of Democratic and Republican senators and Biden agreed to a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending plan Thursday that would fund highways, railroads, broadband Internet, and other projects without raising taxes. But Biden said he would not sign the bill into law unless Congress also passed the American Families Plan, an ambitious proposal to subsidize childcare, establish national paid family leave, and extend this year’s expansion and overhaul of the child tax credit, among other reforms. The $1.8 trillion in social safety net spending would be paid for by tax increases on the wealthy, including undoing Trump-era cuts for top earners, and hiking the capital gains tax. “We need physical infrastructure, but we also need the human infrastructure as well,” Biden told reporters Thursday in a press conference following the announcement of the deal. “If they don’t come, I’m not signing.” Biden later said his remarks weren’t intended as a veto threat. In a statement Saturday, Biden said he still wanted to pass both bills together, but that he supported the infrastructure bill “without reservation or hesitation.” In the absence of Republican support for the Families Plan, Biden said its success hinges on Democratic lawmakers, who control the House of Representatives but hold only a slim advantage in the Senate, passing it through a process called budget reconciliation. That’s the same legislative tactic that Democrats used to get Biden’s pandemic relief bill, the American Rescue Plan, through the Senate, in a 50-49 party line vote in March that didn’t allow the Republicans a chance to block it with a filibuster. Economists reading the political tea leaves predicted Biden might have to compromise again—this time with members of his own party—to get the bill passed. “The real question, in our view, continues to be whether the more partisan parts of Biden’s proposals, such as the higher taxes and increased spending outside traditional infrastructure, have enough support to get through reconciliation,” economists at Wells Fargo Securities wrote in a commentary. “We still suspect the answer is yes, but that the headline figures for both new spending and tax increases will need to be scaled back to garner enough support from the moderate Democratic senators.” Have a question, comment, or story to share? You can reach Diccon at dhyatt@thebalance.com
