Bipartisan $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan Gains Support In US Senate, But Disputes Continue

A bipartisan infrastructure plan in the U.S. government, costing little over $1 trillion, has been gaining support in the U.S. Senate, but disputes continue on how it should be funded, Reuters reports.

Twenty-one (11 Republicans, nine Democrats and one independent) of the 100 U.S. senators who caucuses with Democrats, are working on the infrastructure framework, which would cost $1.2 trillion over eight years, sources say.

Republican and Democratic senators have held talks on an infrastructure plan that would spend $973 billion over five years, with $579 billion of that funding above expected baseline levels.

As per the draft outline of the proposal, the plan would dedicate $110 billion for bridges and roads, $65 billion to access broadband, and $48.5 billion to public transit.

Extended over an eight-year timeline, the plan would spend a total of $1.2 trillion, WSJ reports. 

Initially, President Joe Biden had proposed about $4 trillion to be spent on infrastructures such as fighting climate change and providing care for children and the elderly.

Later the White House cut it to about $1.7 trillion in talks with senators to win Republican support.

The bipartisan group has discussed the revenue-raising provisions such as indexing the gas tax to inflation. But, the White House has resisted indexing the gas tax to inflation. According to the White House officials, it won't raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-NH) is working on an infrastructure blueprint of $6 trillion. 

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has said that this $6 trillion package may require "the largest tax increase in American history" to fund it.