Bipartisan infrastructure deal takes fire from left and right | TheHill

I think I would have paid for it differently but I’m open to ideas,” he said.As a result, the Senate Democrats and Republicans are in a sort of a staring contest to see who will blink first and quash the bipartisan proposal, which would then set the stage for Democratic leaders trying to pass Biden’s infrastructure agenda on a party-line vote under budget reconciliation.Strategists in both parties say it’s hard to imagine a major infrastructure bill getting 60 votes in the Senate at a time of extreme partisanship in Washington.“I don’t think it has much of a chance of passing because, first, there’s only five Republicans who have agreed to it and we would need five more and it would be very, very hard to find those five,” said Mike Lux, a Democratic strategist, referring to the fact that Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to pass an infrastructure bill through the 50-50 Senate under regular order.Secondly, Lux said the bipartisan proposals to pay for the package are so vague they’re “worse than sketchy.”“Democrats are not interested in taxes on working-class people. They may want to vote for it but they’ll vote against it and their cover is their own proposal that spends a lot more and increases taxes on the wealthy,” said Brian Darling, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide, who predicted the gulf between Biden’s $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan and $1.8 trillion American Families Plan and the current bipartisan framework will prove too much for many Democrats to accept.Senate Majority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerIt's not just Manchin: No electoral mandate stalls Democrats' leftist agenda DOJ to probe Trump-era subpoenas of lawmaker records Democrats demand Barr, Sessions testify on Apple data subpoenas MORE (D-N.Y.) hasn’t said whether he can get behind the proposal, which would spend $1.2 trillion over eight years, as White House officials are raising concerns over how Republicans want to pay for it.Schumer emphasized Monday that infrastructure legislation must include strong climate provisions.“As I’ve said from the start, that in order to move forward on infrastructure, we must include bold action climate,” he said on the Senate floor.The Democratic leader says that whether a bipartisan infrastructure bill passes or not, Democratic leaders also plan to move legislation under budget reconciliation to enact major elements of Biden’s agenda that don’t have any chance of picking up 60 votes in the Senate.“At the moment, both tracks are moving forward and progressing very well,” Schumer said Monday.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellWhat the Democrats should be doing to reach true bipartisanship Democrats mull overhaul of sweeping election bill McConnell seeks to divide and conquer Democrats MORE (R-Ky.) says he’s open to the proposal as long as it remains focused on traditional infrastructure priorities such as roads and bridges and doesn’t reverse any of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, former President TrumpDonald TrumpBiden prepares to confront Putin Biden aims to bolster troubled Turkey ties in first Erdoğan meeting Senate investigation of insurrection falls short MORE’s signature initiative.McConnell on Monday gave the bipartisan framework a 50-50 chance of leading to the Senate passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill.“Maybe 50-50,” he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, when asked the odds.