Their early agreement calls for about $974 billion in infrastructure spending over five years, which comes to about $1.2 trillion when extrapolated over eight years, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details had not yet been released formally. The package includes roughly $579 billion in new spending.
Democrats and Republicans agreed to focus their investments on what they see as core infrastructure, and their plan does not include any new tax increases to finance the spending, the four people familiar with the plan said. But it does appear to wade into politically fraught territory by proposing changes to the gas tax: Lawmakers do not plan to raise the rate, but they do seek to index it to inflation, according to one of the sources, meaning consumers’ costs at the pump could rise.
This is effectively the GOP infrastructure plan, which is a tacit acknowledgement that the Democrats really don’t have a Senate majority. They have a 49-50 minority + Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Since Manchin has said repeatedly that he will not support reconciliation for the infrastructure bill, it seems like this compromise has the best hope of passing. I think it’s probably this or nothing and that ultimately Biden will opt for this.