Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says he likes President Joe Biden “personally,” but is signaling that he plans to oppose the new president’s agenda.
Speaking to reporters in Kentucky on Thursday, McConnell said, “He’s a first-rate person… Nevertheless, this is a bold left-wing administration. I don’t think they have a mandate to do what they are doing.”
"He's a first-rate person," McConnell says of Biden. "Nevertheless, this is a bold left-wing administration. I don't think they have a mandate to do what they are doing"
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) April 1, 2021
“I’m gonna fight them every step of the way because I think this is the wrong prescription for America,” he added.
McConnell, in Ky, complimented Biden as a “first-rate person,” but criticized him for not doing more to work across the aisle
— Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) April 1, 2021
He slammed his "left-wing" agenda so far & said: "I'm gonna fight them every step of the way bc I think this is the wrong prescription for America”
His comments come a day after Biden announced his proposed $2 trillion infrastructure bill which aims to rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges and fight climate change. The funds would be able spent over eight years.
Biden has called the proposal a “once-in-a-generation investment in America” that is “unlike anything we’ve seen or done.”
To pay for the bill, Biden plans to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. However, The Washington Post reports that it would take nearly twice as long, 15 years, for the proposed tax increase to pay for the infrastructure overhaul.
Additionally, the Post notes that economists have raised questions about why only roughly 5% of the spending is allocated for roads and bridges.
The bill would spend $621 billion to rebuild roads and bridges and $174 billion on the electric car market. As Reuters reports, the bill would also spend “$400 billion toward expanding access to affordable home or community-based care for aging Americans and people with disabilities.”
It also allocates another $213 billion to build and retrofit affordable, sustainable homes, implement nationwide high-speed broadband, and make investments in the electric grid and the country’s water systems.
McConnell has previously signaled opposition to the bill as he said, “It’s called infrastructure, but inside the Trojan horse it’s going to be more borrowed money, and massive tax increases on all the productive parts of our economy.”
He added that if the bill is “going to have massive tax increases and trillions more added to the national debt, it’s not likely” that he would support it.
In seeming preparation for a lack of Republican support, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is exploring whether Democrats would be able to use budget reconciliation to pass the infrastructure bill with a simple majority, just 51 votes.
Senators can usually only use budget reconciliation, which cannot be filibustered, once per year. However, Democrats believe a provision of the Congressional Budget Act would let them use reconciliation more than once.