President Biden and a bipartisan group of centrist senators have reached a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal. But Democrats also want to pass a separate piece of legislation, referred to as a reconciliation bill, on purely partisan lines to fund additional projects.
Cincinnati Edition spoke with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown about the infrastructure deal and the second larger bill that Democrats are pushing for. Sen. Brown says there is a real opportunity to invest in the country.
"To me and to most of us, infrastructure is broader than that. It's broadband, it's housing. It's human infrastructure of childcare; it's education, it's health care, it's all those things so that the Republicans don't want to go there. They only want to go on the water and sewer, not the more human side of housing and broadband. And to most of us in the Senate, this is an opportunity to really invest in this country, because we'll never deal with wealth inequality and deal with stagnation of wages and all unless we go bigger," he says.
But how will our nation pay for the $1.2 trillion deal? Sen. Brown says the president won't raise taxes on the middle class.
"President Biden promised he would not increase taxes on people making under $400,000 a year. The rich have gotten immensely richer during the pandemic. If the rich get out of their taxes, it means the middle class pays more. We need to increase taxes on people making over $400,000 in a graduated income," Brown says.
Sen. Brown also discussed the ailing Brent Spence Bridge and the Western Hills Viaduct project and the prospect of whether projects like these will be included in the infrastructure deal.
Joining Cincinnati Edition to discuss the deal isOhio Senator Sherrod Brown.
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