Democrats' two-step infrastructure plan draws Republican ire
Hours after U.S. President Joe Biden declared "we have a deal" to renew the nation's infrastructure, the Senate's top Republican lashed out at plans to follow the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill with another measure addressing what Democrats call "human infrastructure."
Biden and top congressional Democrats - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer - had long signaled their plan to link the bipartisan deal with another measure including spending on home health care and child care in an infrastructure bill.
The second measure would be passed through a Senate maneuver called reconciliation, which would allow it to take effect without Republican votes.
That drew a harsh response from Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"Less than two hours after publicly commending our colleagues and actually endorsing the bipartisan agreement, the President took the extraordinary step of threatening to veto it," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "It almost makes your head spin."
McConnell, Pelosi and Schumer have not been directly involved with the bipartisan infrastructure talks. McConnell has not publicly stated if he would back the initiative, though he called it "encouraging" in his floor remarks.
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