A bipartisan group in the United States House of Representatives has released a framework laying out the cost and need for physical infrastructure to come to an agreement regarding President Biden’s latest infrastructure package.
The Problem Solvers Caucus is a group of 29 Democrats and 29 Republicans who aim to foster bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues.
According to a report from the Associated Press, the group agreed to $761.8 billion in new spending over eight years as part of a $1.2 trillion plan. $140 million is included for projects in Georgia.
Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux, who is serving as the U.S. Representative from Georgia's 7th congressional district, said while that number may seem modest compared to the total, it is a way for members to identify places where there are real needs in their communities.
“What we focused on in the seventh district was, we really need local bus routes,” Bourdeaux said. “We need to start building that out. Ideally, we can have some bus rapid transit moving people around Gwinnett.”
She said the goal of the group’s framework is to get the bill through the Senate without the need for reconciliation.
“We really don't want to use reconciliation because we want to make policy changes,” Bourdeaux said. “Reconciliation can only take up just changing the tax numbers or changing the budget numbers. You can't deal with any policy, so being bipartisan is important for actually making policy changes.”
Over a five-year period, Bourdeaux said they currently spend about $304 billion on surface transportation. The Problem Solvers’ plan would increase that to close to $627 billion, which she said is necessary to grow and address environmental issues.
The next step in the plan is figuring out how to pay for the increases.
