There is no GOP infrastructure plan. There won’t be a GOP infrastructure plan. It’s time to move on

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Here’s one of those Republicans who is so pleased that Biden is working with them in “good faith”—Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. He says: “I’m encouraged by the President’s willingness to negotiate.” He also says: “Some provisions in the administration’s so-called infrastructure plan are so unrelated to infrastructure, it’s hard to read them with a straight face.” And: “What Congress shouldn’t do is spend more taxpayer dollars to achieve liberal wish-lists that expand the welfare state.” Then he actually ends with: “If all sides are willing to negotiate in good faith, an agreement can be struck.”

Right. That’s a statement just oozing with good faith. But the White House is still plugging away at it, with a meeting of advisers including Steve Ricchetti and Head of Legislative Affairs Louisa Terrell scheduled for Friday. That’s after Biden met with them two weeks ago, and after he had the Transportation and Commerce secretaries meet with them, and has also instructed top aides to go to Capitol Hill with them. Last week Biden asked the Republicans to have their counteroffer ready for him this Tuesday. It wasn’t.

“[T]here was ‘not a significantly changed offer’ from the Republicans during their meeting with the administration this week, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private negotiations,” AP reports. But lead Republican negotiator Sen. Shelley Moore Capito either doesn’t understand the meaning of “come back with a new offer,” or she’s trying to gaslight us all. She says that she expects the White House to respond to her by the end of the week. Maybe this is the whole problem—their lead negotiator doesn’t know what “negotiation” means.

Even House Republicans have managed to come up with something concrete. Laughable and relatively tiny, but concrete with actual numbers assigned to things.

As a reminder, the Biden plan includes $2 trillion in jobs and infrastructure: $621 billion for transportation including roads, bridges, ports, airports, public transit, and electric vehicle charging stations; $80 billion for rail; $111 billion for replacing lead water pipes and replacing old sewer lines; $100 billion for national broadband internet; $100 billion for upgrades to the electric grid to deliver clean energy; $300 billion toward building and retrofitting homes; and $400 billion to provide care for the elderly and people with disabilities.

All of this is massively popular with the American public. They particularly like the part about about raising taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. Last month, a Quinnipiac University poll found that “support for Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan grows by 9 points if it is attached to a corporate tax increase.”

That popularity, however, can erode the longer this drags on. That’s something Democrats are well aware of, and getting increasingly antsy about. Because they know Republicans as well as anyone.

“I do not think that the White House should relegate recovery to the judgment of Mitch McConnell, because he will not function in good faith,” New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said earlier this week. “So, I just think it’s a terrible political misstep.”

That means it’s time to start making plans to pass the damn thing with budget reconciliation, where Republican votes aren’t needed, and working Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to get it done. This week, with the Republicans doing their amoral worst, demonstrated that there is zero good faith from them. Even Manchin shouldn’t be capable of praying that away.

Source: http://feeds.dailykosmedia.com/~r/dailykosofficial/~3/nfQqsJIy7UQ/-When-McConnell-says-he-will-obstruct-everything-Biden-wants-to-do-Biden-needs-to-believe-him