Senator Bill Cassidy indicated lawmakers will present an alternative proposal to the President’s 2.2 trillion-dollar infrastructure plan, with reports putting it somewhere in the 600 to 800 billion dollar range.
Cassidy said the bulk of Biden’s bill, named the American Jobs Plan, isn’t actually infrastructure spending and hammered the legislation’s proposed tax hikes on businesses.
“It pays for it by raising taxes in a way that is estimated by the National Federation of Independent Businesses to negatively impact job growth in our country,” said Cassidy.
Cassidy backed doubling the amount of money going towards road and bridge funding. Biden currently is calling for 115 billion in upgrades to roads and bridges. Cassidy argued that only six percent of the 2.2 trillion dollars goes towards classically defined “infrastructure”.
The AJP includes funding for new housing, clean water, green energy infrastructure, paid leave, elderly care, veterans’ health, and more. Cassidy called it too unfocused.
“Some of these things might be good but I think that should be not in an infrastructure bill but in a separate bill where we discuss solutions and a way to pay for it,” said Cassidy.
The AJP also includes funding for passenger rail between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Cassidy said his constituents have been calling for new infrastructure spending like an I-10 bridge in Lake Charles and an I-49 connector in Shreveport, but Biden’s bill may shortchange those kinds of projects.
“We have a lot of pent-up demand in our state for infrastructure, that’s why it’s important to focus on infrastructure!”
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