Category: infrastructure

Orange County Transportation Budget to Drive Road Improvements

The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) on June 14 approved a $1.3 billion budget that aims to improve the California county’s roadways. Some of the funds budgeted for the 2021-22 fiscal year will go toward capital investment projects, including freeway improvement projects on interstates 405 and 5, as well as state routes 55, 57, and 91. “OCTA continues to lead freeway…


Manchin Refuses to Guarantee Support for Two-Track Infrastructure Push

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Wednesday said that he’s not sure if he supports ramming another package through Congress after some in his party have tried securing a commitment from him in exchange for voting for the bill a bipartisan group that includes him came out with. “If they don’t like it, they should vote…


Manchin Declines to Guarantee Support for 2-Track Infrastructure Push

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said on April 16 he’s not sure if he supports ramming another legislative package through Congress after some in his party have tried securing a commitment from him on a sweeping infrastructure package, in exchange for their support for a smaller, bipartisan proposal that he helped craft. “If they don’t like it,…


Schumer Begins Process to Pass Broad Infrastructure Package Through Reconciliation

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he will move ahead on Wednesday with the partisan process of reconciliation, which only requires 50 votes to pass the Democrats’ broad infrastructure package. He will be working with the Senate Budget Committee to push President Joe Biden’s American Jobs and Family Plans through the Senate with no…


G-7 Leaders to Take on Beijing’s Debt Trap Diplomacy

Leaders of the world’s seven richest nations on June 13 agreed to counter Beijing’s growing influence in developing countries through its controversial development program, the “Belt and Road” Initiative, which has left many poor nations with heavy debt loads. Advanced economies pledged to provide a “democratic alternative” to China’s ambitious program to address the infrastructure…


Democrats Growing Impatient With Ongoing Bipartisan Negotiations on Infrastructure Package

While the third group of bipartisan senators try to negotiate an infrastructure package that both sides can agree meets the needs of the nation and be fully paid for, progressives in the Democratic Party are doubtful the GOP will embrace their priorities, including provisions to address climate change. Unlike Republican lawmakers who have a traditional…


Biden Ends Infrastructure Negotiations With Key Republican

President Joe Biden on Tuesday stopped negotiating with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) after a failure to reach common ground in infrastructure negotiations. Biden and Capito, the top Republican on the Senate Committee of Environment and Public Works, had been in talks for weeks on a major infrastructure plan, but hit a roadblock over funding priorities…


Republicans’ Infrastructure Negotiations With White House Hit ‘Roadblock’

Negotiations on a major infrastructure package have hit a snag, Republicans and Democrats said Tuesday. “The negotiations ongoing with the White House on infrastructure hit a significant roadblock,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the Senate Republican Conference chairman, told reporters on Capitol Hill. The bargaining talks “seem to be running into a brick wall,” Senate Majority…


Biden Rejects New Republican Infrastructure Offer

WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden and Republicans entered the weekend sharply at odds over how to craft an infrastructure deal that could satisfy their camps, imperiling the odds of a bipartisan deal. Biden shot down a new proposal from the main Republican negotiator on infrastructure, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), that increased spending by about $50 billion…


McConnell: Infrastructure Plan Should Be Smaller and Fully Paid For

As negotiations drag on for a major infrastructure package, the top Republican in the Senate on Thursday said the final deal should be fully paid for. “We’re still hoping we can come to an agreement on a fully paid for and significant infrastructure package. I know that would be welcomed by all state governments and…