par David Morgan, Richard Cowan et Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) – Hours after US President Joe Biden announced that a bipartisan agreement on the plan to renovate infrastructure had been reached, the Republican minority leader in Snat protested against plans to add to the bipartisan $ 1.2 trillion (€ 1.005 billion) bill another measure funding what Democrats call “human infrastructure.”
Joe Biden and top Democrats in Congress – House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Snat Majority Leader Chuck Schumer – had long signaled their intention to tie the bipartisan accord to another law providing for spending on health care and children’s services.
The second measure would be adopted through a SNAT maneuver called “reconciliation”, which would allow it to come into force without the Republican vote.
“I expect that in the next few months, before the end of the fiscal year, we will vote on this (bipartisan) bill – the infrastructure bill – as well as on the budget resolution,” Joe Biden said at a press conference. “But if I get one, I won’t sign it. It’s a tandem.”
This drew a harsh response from Mitch McConnell.
“Less than two hours after having publicly congratulated our colleagues and in fact approved the bipartisan agreement, the president took the extraordinary step of threatening to veto it,” he told Snat. Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were not directly involved in the bipartisan discussions over the infrastructure plan. The Republican leader has not publicly declared whether he would support the initiative, although he described it as “encouraging” during his speech at Snat.
Progressive members of Congress – some of whom were pushing for an ambitious $ 6 trillion bill – had indicated that they would not support the bipartisan bill without a flanking measure.
The plan includes $ 579 billion in new spending, intended to finance major investments in the US electricity network, the deployment of high-speed Internet and rail transportation. (French version Camille Raynaud)
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