infrastructure week
Why Democrats' infrastructure bill could end up a long way from the plan Biden introduces
The White House on Wednesday rolled out the details of President Biden's major new infrastructure and climate plan, the first part of a two-step proposal. Biden is expected to discuss the roughly $2 trillion American Jobs Plan in a speech later in the day, but what he describes may be a far cry from what Congress eventually tries to pass.
Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman suggests you don't hold your breath until Biden signs anything into law; it may be a while before the House settles on its version, and even longer before the Senate gets to work on it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) target date for passage in the lower chamber — July 4 — is overly optimistic, Sherman wrote on Twitter, before breaking down the reasons why the process will take months.
In the end, Sherman believes Congress will combine items from Biden's two-part plan into one massive bill that will only get through the Senate via reconciliation (since Republicans likely won't co-sign) sometime in September, leaving a lot of time for revisions.