The legislative agreement reached by the Senate Democrats with at least 11 Republican Senators, to pass a version of American Jobs Act is truly groundbreaking.
The generational infrastructure investments contemplated in this bill are fundamental to bring our country’s economy back and better, boosting economic growth, creating millions of good paying jobs, while addressing at the same time inequities present in our society, which structurally and historically leave behind many working and low income families and individuals of the progress we have made as a nation.
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure investments package, which mostly focuses on hard infrastructure, transportation and broadband access, will be funded without increasing fiscal deficits by a set of tax measures that are equitable, and very specifically, would not increase taxes to any person or household making less than 400 thousand dollars per year.
Prior to this bipartisan agreement, average national polling suggested that there was ample support to Biden’s American Jobs Act, including significant constituents along the Republican base. This facilitated and paved the way for this political transaction lead by Democratic Senators Tester (D-Montana) Warner (D-Virginia), Sinema and Kelly (D-Arizona), Manchin (D-West Virginia), Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) and Shaheen (D-New Hampshire); adding the critical votes of at least 11 Republicans lead by conservative brand names such as Romney (R-Utah), Collins (R-New Hampshire), Burr (R-North Carolina), Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Graham (R-South Carolina), Moran (R-Kansas), Murkowski (R-Alaska), Portman (R-Ohio), Rounds (R-South Dakota), Tillis (R-North Carolina) and Young (R-Indiana).
The question is whether this coalition (or a similar one), which would overcome the filibuster rule, on infrastructure investments, can be replicated around other issues such as Immigration Reform or Voting Rights. Or whether at some point in time the Biden-Harris Administration, with Senate Democrats, will advance through the budget reconciliation process to appropriate further resources to fund the soft-social infrastructure items included in the original American Jobs Act proposed by the White House; and whether the same reconciliation process can be expected to be used, as recommended by The Center for American Progress, on immigration reform to provide path to citizenship for DACA/DREAMers, TPS beneficiaries and undocumented essential workers.
The filibuster rule, which stopped the American Jobs Act until this bipartisan deal was made, also prevents the Democratic Senate majority (including the tie breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris) from passing legislation strongly opposed by many Republicans, such as HR-1 expanding and protecting voting rights, now under attack by Republican majorities in several states. Another question that emerges is whether abolishing the filibuster rule, or reforming the same to go back to the original rule which required those Senators opposing to hold the floor in order to stop laws from passing, would gain momentum if other legislative priorities do not find common ground like this time happened with the infrastructure investments legislation. At least two of the Senate Democrats in the infrastructure deal reached out this week (Senators Manchin and Sinema), have expressed reservation or opposition to abolishing the filibuster rule.
At the end of this week’s legislative victory for Biden, one silver lining emerges: President Biden’s experience as a long term Senator and former VicePresident, which showed in his masterful handling of this process of negotiations, represents a significant political advantage to unify the country around his ambitious socioeconomic agenda.