On Thursday, President Joe Biden will continue to hold talks with Republicans from Congress as he looks forward to a bipartisan deal on his infrastructure package. There are quite a few roadblocks as differences persist. There have been small breakthroughs on a few points, but the Republicans are adamant that they will not concede on a few issues. However, the Democrats are also strong on the issues they want to tackle, to bring the nation back on its feet after several years of slump.
On Wednesday, Biden put forth his approximately $2 trillion plan on infrastructure and another $1.8 trillion plan for Children and Families. He hosted the four top Republican Senate and House leaders at the White House.
After their meeting on Wednesday both the top Republican leaders, Minority Senate leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that there were key points of difference. The Senate leader told reporters that they would not accept tax increases that would overturn the 2017 tax cuts promoted by their administration, which was signed to law by the former President Trump.
The Democrats believe that the upper classes and the rich need to be taxed at a higher rate to pay for the proposed plans that will benefit the entire nation. Lower taxes and tax benefits to corporates have been the hallmark of almost all Republican governments.
They also have a “narrow” vision of infrastructure that is confined to physical projects. These include roads, bridges, highways airports, broadband and more. However, the Democrats have a broader view of infrastructures and include clean energy and social issues.
This is also contentious against the basic belief system of the Republican ideology which tends towards the promotion of fossil fuels in predominantly red states. After the winter storms in Texas, some Republicans erroneously blamed clean energy for the power cuts which was totally incorrect. The winter storm power was caused due to poor state maintenance of power lines.
The Republicans also tend towards the promotion of capitalism and corporate growth as they are the biggest funders of the GOP. The January 6 riot caused curtailment of some of their corporate funding especially to those Republicans who directly supported the theory of baseless election fraud.
However, as the Republicans are gathering around their leader who persists in saying that the elections were “THE BIG LIE” and the Democrats looking to raise taxes from the same group.
In a Wednesday interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, President Biden has also firmly indicated that he is ready to move forward without bipartisan support if a deal is not struck within a timeframe.
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