Democrats urged to separate infrastructure bill from reconciliation

WASHINGTON: US Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has urged congressional Democrats to follow President Joe Biden in separating the bipartisan infrastructure bill from a larger reconciliation legislation.

"The President has appropriately delinked a potential bipartisan infrastructure bill from the massive, unrelated tax-and-spend plans that Democrats want to pursue on a partisan basis. Now I am calling on President Biden to engage Leader (Chuck) Schumer and Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi and make sure they follow his lead," McConnell said in a statement on Monday.

"Unless Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi walk-back their threats that they will refuse to send the president a bipartisan infrastructure bill unless they also separately pass trillions of dollars for unrelated tax hikes, wasteful spending, and Green New Deal socialism, then President Biden's walk-back of his veto threat would be a hollow gesture".

He added that the President cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process. McConnell's remarks came after Biden clarified on June 26 that he does not intend to issue a veto threat on a bipartisan infrastructure bill if it comes without a reconciliation bill on his other social spending priorities.

On June 23, Biden announced that he had reached a deal with a bipartisan group of senators on a roughly $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan over eight years.

Some moderate Republicans have voiced support for the infrastructure plan, but opposed Democrats' efforts to move forward a larger reconciliation bill with trillions of dollars in spending and tax hikes on the wealthy.

For Democratic leaders, moving both bills through nearly in tandem is key to passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill in both chambers because progressives don't want to risk having their priorities end up on the cutting-room floor while the bipartisan infrastructure plan becomes law, according to Bloomberg News. (IANS)

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