Infrastructure Part 2: Human Infrastructure

As mentioned in the prior story, President Biden’s infrastructure deal was for traditional infrastructure projects that always have broad bipartisan appeal in Washington. However, it intentionally bypassed many of Biden’s top priorities for “human infrastructure” including welfare, education, childcare, eldercare, and climate provisions.

Those provisions are included in a separate $3.5 trillion package which has been unanimously opposed by Republicans due to ideological differences, the price tag, and the likelihood that they would be coupled with tax increases. In response, Democratic leadership in both the House and the Senate intend to use their narrow majorities to pass the legislation. The Senate is currently trying to pass the bill through reconciliation, where the Senate can pass budget-related measures with a 50-vote simple majority rather than the 60 votes typically needed to pass legislation in the upper chamber. 

The process started on August 10 when the Senate, on a strict party line vote, passed a budget resolution that allows Senate committees to begin drafting the provisions of a $3.5 trillion spending bill. On August 24, the House passed the same $3.5 trillion budget framework in a 220-212 vote. Lawmakers are already working on drafting detailed legislation.

The Senate measure passed the House because Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was able to squeeze concessions from both progressives and a group of 10 centrist Democrats. The centrists had refused to approve the budget framework unless the House first voted on the infrastructure bill. Although the centrists didn’t secure an immediate vote, they did pin down a September 27 deadline for it, which means the House could vote on that bill weeks before the budget package is ready. The Speaker had said previously that the House would not vote on infrastructure until the healthcare and education package has passed the Senate.

This long process will take weeks or months of negotiations and committee work. Originally, the budget framework, which is essentially a rough draft that is submitted by Senate and House leadership before the official provisions are ironed out, includes spending towards climate initiatives, Medicare expansion, paid leave, childcare and education. 

However, the overall amount of money that will be committed in these spending bills will likely end up being less than the $3.5 trillion proposal, as Democrats will need all 50 Democratic Senators to agree to pass the package. There are already concerns from moderate Senators such as Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) as well as several moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives who have expressed their discontent over the size of the spending bill. House Speaker Pelosi has only 220 Democratic Members in her caucus and would lose the vote if as few as four of them decide to vote against the bill. Speaker Pelosi must reconcile the battle line between the party’s most progressive elements for whom no spending or tax increases are ever enough and the significant number of moderate Democrats representing mostly affluent suburban districts. Those members hope to apply the brakes on increased taxes and spending so as not to offend their wealthy constituents in districts that could easily turn Republican in 2022.  They warn that failure to do so will cost them their seats and the Democrats their majority in the 2022 midterm elections. 

Moderate Democrats will likely have the greatest influence on how much is in the final spending package. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave committees a deadline of September 15 to finalize their portions of the overall bill, so much work will be done in the coming weeks. Nonetheless, it is a complicated process and might not resolve itself until Thanksgiving or Christmas.