Republicans introduces a new $568 billion infrastructure package

U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday countered Biden’s sweeping $2.3 trillion plan with a proposal for a $568 billion, a five-year infrastructure package, calling their measure a starting point for bipartisan negotiations.

The proposal focuses narrowly on traditional infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, rail, ports, water systems and on broadband access, falling below the initial Republican target range of $600 billion to $800 billion.

It would not result in higher taxes but be fully paid for through user fees and unspent federal funds.

Republicans, having already sent the proposal to the White House before it was unveiled, had seen it dismissed earlier by Democrats in Congress as inadequate.

“This is the largest infrastructure investment that Republicans have come forward with,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who has helped lead the effort as top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “We see this as an offer that’s on the table and deserves a response,” she told a press conference, while flanked by leading Republican members of other Senate committees with jurisdiction over infrastructure.

Republicans have opposed the size and scope of Biden’s proposal, as well as its plan to pay for spending by raising taxes on U.S. corporations. Biden, in response, had asked Republicans to offer a counter-proposal by mid-May, which the Republicans has now delivered on.

The Democrat’s proposal, a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, includes traditional infrastructure projects while also addressing climate change and expanding on healthcare and human services.

The Republican proposal, however, could form the basis of a two-track infrastructure process that would be split into a smaller bipartisan bill and a larger measure that Democrats could move through Congress without Republican votes.