Biden Battles Over Infrastructure

On the face of it, an unlikely controversy in the shape of President Biden's proposed infrastructure plan, but when you scratch the surface commentators on the right and the left say that this bill won't be a beacon of bipartisan compromise. For Republicans and some centrist Democrats, the bill tries to do too much clearing the road for a legislative battle up ahead. Megan Ryerson, UPS Chair of Transport, Alex Vogel, Lobbyist, GOP Strategist and CEO of The Vogel Group and Sean Theama, Interim President of Young Americans For Liberty (YAL) contribute to this story. XXXXXX SCRIPT SCRIPT SCRIPT SCRIPT XXXXXXXXX SOT Megan Ryerson UPS Chair of Transportation at the University of Pennsylvania 03:07 this is transformative because we're going to make changes. 03:11 We're going to innovate the transportation sector. 03:15 INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT... HISTORICALLY, A WIN-WIN FOR POLITICIANS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE... SOT Megan Ryerson citizens need transportation to participate in the economy, to to get the goods and services that they need for their families. 21:37 And so transportation has always been a bipartisan issue. BUT FOLKS ON THE RIGHT SAY PRESIDENT BIDEN'S "AMERICAN JOBS PLAN" ISN'T YOUR TYPICAL "PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES" TYPE OF INFRASTRUCTURE BILL... IT INCLUDES PROVISIONS FOR THE FUNDING OF HOME CARE FOR SENIORS AND PROTECTING WORKERS RIGHTS TO UNIONIZE... THAT BROAD BRUSH WILL MAKE A HARDER SELL FOR MODERATE DEMOCRATS ... ESPECIALLY WITH A 2 TRILLION DOLLAR PRICE TAG... SOT Alex Vogel infrastructure is great building, new bridges is fantastic and roads and things like that, but you have to pay for it. 6:40 and the biden plan has a lot of tax increases in it. 6:45 THOSE TAX INCREASES COULD BECOME A POLITICAL MINEFIELD... CONSERVATIVE GROUPS ARE ALREADY PUSHING BACK... SOt Sean Theama Young Americans for Liberty - You've got payroll taxes, you've got sales taxes, you've got state income taxes under the biden administration you expect even more taxes that we haven't even dreamed of yet. 23:11 THE WHITE HOUSE HOPES TO SEE THE BILL ON THE PRESIDENT'S DESK THIS SUMMER... BUT FIRST... AN UPHILL BATTLE IN CONGRESS... REPUBLICANS SAY THEY'LL SUPPORT A SLIMMED DOWN INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE... BUT THE TWO PARTIES SIT ABOUT A BILLION DOLLARS APART... AND POLITICAL STRATEGISTS SAY... DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH ON THAT POTHOLE GETTING FIXED... SOT Alex Vogel I do believe that President Biden and his team are a little over their skis on this one.