Biden team seeks public's help to outrun GOP on infrastructure
Nancy Cook Bloomberg
The Biden administration is aiming to corral overwhelming
public support for its $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan, targeting Republican
voters, independents, mayors, governors and local politicians to counter
opposition from GOP lawmakers, according to White House officials and Biden
allies.
It's the same outside-of-Washington playbook President Joe
Biden's team used to successfully pass his stimulus $1.9 trillion bill last
month -- applied to an even larger spending proposal that already enjoys a head
start in public support, polls suggest.
Biden's aides and allies believe that just trying to
persuade congressional Republicans to support what he calls a jobs plan is the
strategy of a bygone era. Barack Obama's presidency took that tack, when
bipartisan negotiations over the Affordable Care Act with GOP lawmakers proved
fruitless.
While Biden says he's happy to work with Republicans, listen
to their ideas and make adjustments, the White House doesn't want to let the
GOP slow or water down Democrats' sweeping policy agenda. One White House
official said the president is a realist about what happened during the Obama
years as well as about the internal dynamics of the GOP in Washington and the
pressures its individual members face.
Congressional Republican leaders quickly stated their
opposition to Biden's $2.25 trillion plan last week, calling it a hodge-podge
of liberal aspirations and arguing that its corporate-tax increases would hurt
U.S. competitiveness.
But Biden aides and allies argue proposals like fixing roads
and bridges, expanding broadband, boosting taxes on the wealthy and
corporations and expanding affordable child care options are overwhelming
popular with both Democratic and Republican voters.
In a White House memo sent on March 31 obtained by
Bloomberg, senior adviser Anita Dunn wrote that the support for the Covid-19
relief bill remained "steady and popular" from its introduction to
its passage. Her memo signaled the White House hopes for the same success with
the infrastructure proposal. It cited polling that shows spending on
infrastructure is supported by more than half of Americans.
Biden's team members "have pretty successfully
re-positioned the idea of unity to mean a super-majority of the country
supports what they are doing -- the test is not whether you can get Kevin
McCarthy to vote for it," John Podesta, former counselor to Obama and
former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, said in an interview,
referring to the Republican leader in the House.
However, passing the stimulus as the U.S. recovered from the
pandemic and an economic downturn will likely prove far easier than Biden's
latest proposal. The argument to the public is trickier, as the price tag is
larger, and its elements are disparate -- a combination of proposals to rebuild
roads and bridges, increase broadband access, invest in clean energy and expand
child and elderly care that is difficult to brand.
"Raising taxes in the middle of an economic crisis is
incredibly misguided," said Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho, the senior
Republican on the tax-writing Finance Committee. "Hastily changing the tax
code purely for the purposes of raising revenue will bring back inversions and
foreign takeovers of U.S. companies, cost jobs, shrink domestic investment and
slow down wage growth."
A new factor in the debate is resurgent U.S. job growth. The
country added more than 900,000 jobs in March, more than economists had
forecast, as coronavirus vaccinations accelerate and the economy reopens, a
report showed Friday.
The administration will also need to accommodate the
differing wings of the Democratic party. Even strong supporters expect
negotiations to drag on for months, and they worry there is a limit to
Congress's appetite for huge pieces of legislation in the first year of the new
administration.
Even so, one White House official said anyone arguing there
is not as much urgency surrounding the infrastructure proposal should talk to a
mayor or governor waiting for two presidential administrations for the
investments now planned.
Aides have said they want significant progress on the bill
by Memorial Day, late next month. Biden last week assigned Transportation
Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce
Secretary Gina Raimondo, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge
and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to take on the role of emissaries for the
infrastructure package.
The five Cabinet officials started their sales tour by
phoning top congressional committee chairs and ranking members last week,
holding calls with bipartisan governors and mayors and doing roughly 25 TV and
radio hits at both the national and local level.
Next week, the Cabinet members plan to hold a series of
meetings with congressional committees once the lawmakers return from recess, said
a White House official.
The administration has also been reaching out to progressive
groups, labor unions, business leaders and business groups, a second White
House aide said.
For the pandemic-relief bill, senior administration
officials made dozens of appearances in local media and focused their efforts
on key political battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona and
Georgia. Biden visited Wisconsin and Michigan -- states he flipped from Donald
Trump to win the presidency -- to make the case directly.
"Voters agree on many more issues than elected
officials," said Celinda Lake, who served as one of the top pollsters to
Biden's 2020 campaign and runs the polling firm Lake Research Partners.
Recent polling from Navigator shows at least 70% of Republican
voters support increased funding for highway and bridge construction, new
job-training programs, expanding broadband access and making childcare more
affordable for families.
Half of Republicans surveyed in the poll said they support
government investment in clean energy.
And polling by Morning Consult and Politico shows 54% of
voters support Biden's infrastructure plan with tax increases on corporations
and Americans earning more than $400,000 -- including 32% of Republicans.
"Even things that Washington Republicans treat as
polarizing, like investment in clean energy infrastructure, has support among
Republicans. This is not where we were a decade ago," said Jeff Liszt, a
partner at ALG Research, the top polling firm to the Biden campaign.
"If Republicans in rural areas did not like clean
energy, do you think Chuck Grassley would have climbed a windmill in an ad
during his last campaign?" he said.
Republicans have, meanwhile, shown they are not unified in
their criticism of Biden's policies.
After the Covid-19 aid bill became law without a single
Republican vote in Congress, some GOP lawmakers nevertheless promoted
provisions included in it that would help their constituents. In Mississippi,
for example, GOP Senator Roger Wicker lauded spending to help restaurants and
small businesses.
And there's been little effort by Republicans to criticize
that bill for adding to U.S. deficits and debt -- a common attack from the GOP
before Trump, who cut taxes and raised spending without focusing on the budgetary
impact.
Biden's allies interpret the lack of GOP message discipline
as a sign that appealing to Republican voters and local leaders is a more
important tactic than trying to persuade their Washington representatives.
"Immediately after the recovery act, we did not see
Republicans talking about deficits and spending. We saw them talking about Dr.
Seuss," Liszt said, in reference to political battles over cultural
issues. "That was not an accident."
Senate official gives Democrats tool to bypass filibuster on certain bills. Here's what it means.
The opinion increases the number of ways Democrats can
advance their agenda, like President Joe Biden's sweeping $2 trillion
infrastructure plan.
Republicans have criticized the proposal from the start,
with conservatives panning it as going too far beyond traditional
infrastructure spending and comparing its climate measures to the
Green New Deal.
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each morning.
More: Biden is pitching a big infrastructure plan, but Republicans
already panned it as going too far
Reaching 60 votes in the Senate looked grim looked from the
starting line: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY., said last week he would fight the plan, suggesting
from the onset there would be no Republican support.
But the process — budget
reconciliation — would allow Democrats to skip major
procedural roadblocks, like getting 60 votes, on items related to the budget
like the infrastructure bill, the next piece of Biden's "Build Back
Better" agenda.
Under this process, with the Senate being tied 50-50, Vice
President Kamala Harris would be able to break a tie and pass the legislation.
More: How does Biden plan to get infrastructure plan through
Congress?
Usually, the Senate needs 60 votes to surpass a filibuster,
meaning 10 Republicans would need to join every Democrat, and the independents
who caucus with Democrats, to pass legislation if it is related to taxing
and spending.
A spokesman for Schumer said Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough "has advised that a revised
budget resolution may contain budget reconciliation instructions."
Simply put, this allows Democrats to bypass the filibuster
and use reconciliation once more in fiscal year 2021 – and several
more times next year.
Senators usually use just one opportunity to pass a budget
resolution for fiscal year. But MacDonough's ruling means Democrats
can amend the budget resolution used recently for the COVID stimulus bill
by attaching another set of reconciliation instructions to it.
"This confirms the Leader’s interpretation of the
Budget Act and allows Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of
Americans if Republican obstruction continues," Schumer's spokesman
continued.
He stressed "no decisions have been made on a
legislative path forward"and "some parameters still need to be worked
out," but "the Parliamentarian’s opinion is an important step
forward that this key pathway is available to Democrats if needed.”
More: Biden is pitching a big infrastructure plan, but Republicans
already panned it as going too far
Schumer aides had been discussing with MacDonough for
weeks about whether they could use the 2021 budget resolution
again. Congress used budget reconciliation to pass Biden's $1.9
trillion American Rescue Plan in March without any Republican votes.
It is unclear what Schumer will do about the infrastructure
bill and the next half of Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda, which
is coming later this month.
But budget reconciliation allows Schumer to maximize
options for passingBiden’s "Build Back Better" agenda if
Republicans attempt to block legislation or "water down a bipartisan
agreement," aides said last week.
McConnell declared plainly on Monday that Biden’s
infrastructure plan is “something we’re not going to do.”
Speaking to reporters in Kentucky, McConnell said Republicans could support a “much more modest”
approach, and one that doesn’t rely on corporate tax hikes to pay for it.
A core dividing line is Biden’s effort to pay for
infrastructure by undoing former President Donald Trump’s tax break for
corporations, a signature achievement of the Trump White House and its partners
in Congress.
A single senator breaking ranks can influence the
size of the package: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., said Monday the current legislation needs
"to be changed," especially in regard to the increase in corporate
tax rate.
He will be a pivotal vote for a simple majority vote in the
divided Senate.
There may be constraints on what can be in legislation
passed by budget reconciliation.
For example, backers of a push to raise the federal hourly
minimum wage to $15 suffered a key loss in
February after MacDonough ruled the measure could not be
considered part of Biden's COVID relief package.
More: $15 minimum wage increase can't go in COVID relief legislation,
Senate official rules
Reconciliation can also turn into a grueling
process in which any senator can force a vote on an amendment.
These "vote-a-ramas" can go on for
hours, requiring senators to be on the Senate floor. During the
passage of the American Rescue Plan, one lasted nearly 24 hours.
$15 million renovation ensures historical Madison library will last well into the future
MADISON — The E.C. Scranton Memorial Library has anchored
this Shoreline community for 121 years, but the completion of a renovation and
expansion of the facility last year has positioned it for an energy efficient
future.
As part of the $15 million expansion and renovation, the
library now draws its energy from two renewable energy resources. The building,
expanded from 20,000 square feet to 39,000 square feet, has a photovoltaic
solar energy array on the newly added second story, as well as geothermal energy
for heating and cooling.
“We looked at it as investment by a long-term owner,” said
Graham Curtis, chairman of the library’s building committee. “This building has
been around for more than 100 years and we’ve tried to do what we can to make
sure it’s around for another 100 years.”
Geothermal heating systems use an electric-powered heat pump
inside a home. The buried tube or pipe system, also known as ground loops,
circulates fluid.
The heat pump and circulating fluid continuously transfer
heat.
During summer, the geothermal system draws heat from the air
in a home and transfers it to the ground, where the temperature remains at
about 55 degrees. In winter, it draws heat from the ground and transfers it to
the home.
Curtis said the geothermal heating and cooling system has
begun reducing the library’s energy bills by 35 percent when compared to a
similar-sized building with a boiler that runs on oil. By combining a solar
array and geothermal heating system, he said the library’s energy bills are
being cut in half.
“There are going to be a lot of days in which we are not
going to be using any energy that is generated off-site,” Curtis said.
Taking the savings into account, he said the system will pay
for itself over an 8- to 10-year period.
Mike Trahan, executive director of the trade group Solar
Connecticut, said some of Connecticut’s more historical libraries aren’t
necessarily the best candidates for rooftop solar.
“A lot of old-style New England libraries have roofs with a
lot of angles that present unique challenges if you’re trying to maximize the
amount of electricity being generated,” Trahan said. “To do that, you really
need a flat roof.”
The ability to install a solar array at E.C. Scranton was
made possible by adding the geothermal system to the renovation and expansion
project, according to Curtis.
“We were able to put a lot more photovoltaic (panels)
because we didn’t have to have a lot of air-handling equipment on the roof,” he
said.
In order to make the geothermal heating and cooling system
work, construction crews needed to drill 25 wells beneath what ultimately has
become the library’s expanded parking lot, according to Curtis.
“Long before the project even got started, our board of
trustees had been inquiring about acquiring adjacent properties because the
library didn’t have enough parking,” he said.
Curtis said it took about two-and-a-half months just to
drill the wells.
The renovation and expansion project was started in October
2018 and completed last July. A temporary Durham Road location served the
public in the interim before being closed in mid-March 2020 due to COVID-19.
The planning process for the project stretches back 15
years, according to Curtis.
There were hurdles along the way, including a 2008
referendum when the idea was shot down by more than 400 votes. A scaled-down
plan was approved in 2017.
In addition to the two renewable energy systems, the newly
renovated and expanded library includes:
Study rooms and meeting space for community groups.
A “makers space” complete with a Cricut, a
computer-controlled cutting machine for crafting projects.
Self-checkout kiosks.
Public computers.
A cafe area, where visitors can bring in food and
socialize, read or relax at high-top tables and chairs.
Despite the modernization and installation of the renewable
energy systems, Curtis said the building committee worked with the project
architect, South Windsor-based Drummey Rosane Anderson, “to make sure it (the
expansion and renovation) fit in with the existing look of the building and
streetscape around it.” The original library building is on the State Register
of Historic Places.
The library is a nonprofit entity that gets some money from
the town, Curtis said. To pay for the costs associated with the project, the
town provided $9 million of the total cost and $2 million came from the state.
The library did fundraising to cover the remaining portion
of the project’s cost.
Louisiana Avenue Bridge replacement almost complete
Brian M Johnson
BRISTOL – The Louisiana Avenue Bridge replacement project is entering its final phases, with completion anticipated for June 2021.
The bridge, originally built in 1941 according to City Engineer Nancy Levesque, was recommended for replacement following a state inspection.
“The state does inspections on bridges every couple of years and rates them,” she said. “Per the rating, we were told that we need to replace the bridge.”
Following this, the City Council approved the $3.7 million project on April 14, 2020, with the state reimbursing 80% of project costs.
Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said that work originally began in June 2020 and that the project was scheduled for a road opening by Nov. 2020.
“Temporary paving was installed for the winter, with final paving scheduled for May,” she said. “A completion date of June 2021 is anticipated due to environmental scheduling constraints, and complications due to the pandemic.”
City Councilor Mary Fortier, who represents the district with the bridge and serves on the Public Works Board, said that detours will be put into place as work re-commences on April 13. Work is expected to last approximately one month.
“Your cooperation in avoiding the area during the duration of the project is appreciated,” said Fortier.
Levesque said that the work that remains is to remove the temporary paving, install a bridge membrane and new approach slabs and then to finish paving. A water line connection, which was temporarily removed during construction, is also being redone as part of the project.
Last year, construction crews removed the old bridge and improved sidewalks. They constructed the bridge abutments and walls and installed a new drainage system and a new bridge deck.
BL Companies, of Meriden, is responsible for the design, construction, engineering and inspection portions of the project. The construction work has been contracted to Schultz Corporation, of Terryville.
Questions and/or comments regarding the project can be directed to Nancy Levesque, P.E., City Engineer at 860-584-6125 or nancylevesque@bristolct.gov, or Adam Dawidowiz, of BL Companies, at 860-760-1910 or adawidowiz@BLcompanies.com.
Kenneth R. Gosselin
HARTFORD — As Hartford examines the future of parking lots
at key development locations in the city, the state of Connecticut is putting
up for sale one it owns a short walk from the state Legislative Office
Building, making it ripe for redevelopment that could build on recent projects
in the Frog Hollow neighborhood.
The 1.2-acre surface lot at the corner of Broad Street and
Capitol Avenue is on a priority list of state-owned properties located in
federal “Opportunity Zones” that could be sold for redevelopment, with the
intent of strengthening city neighborhoods, getting the properties back on the
property tax rolls and giving investors tax incentives.
“It is a very rare
opportunity to develop a piece of property on Capitol Avenue,” said Shane P.
Mallory, administrator for statewide leasing and property transfer for the
state Department of Administrative Services, which is handling the sale. “So we
think it has a lot of potential.”
The parking lot — now used by state employees during the
week and the public on weekends — comes up for sale without an asking price as
the debate over the number of parking lots in locations around the city prime
for redevelopment has again heated up in recent months.
A proposal by city Councilman John Q. Gale to significantly
raise licensing fees for parking operators to encourage redevelopment was put
off by the council in January — at least for the near future. But the city is
pushing ahead with a comprehensive study of parking needs throughout Hartford,
not only surface lots, but garages and on-street parking.
One issue is likely to be the development of the $200
million-plus “North Crossing” — the former Downtown North — which will
gradually replace surface lots used by downtown workers and visitors to Dunkin’
Donuts Park over the next five or so years.
The Capitol Avenue parking lot is located in an area that
may be poised for larger change. Just to the north is the former Broad Street
headquarters of The Courant, which reportedly is for sale. But brokers in the
city say there is no active listing for either sale or lease. CBRE, the
commercial real estate services firm representing the property, declined to
comment.
The lot at 340 Capitol Ave. has existed for nearly 20 years,
replacing a former factory that was converted into an office for state workers
in the late 1960s. At the time, the developer crowed that the 4-story structure
— dating to the early 1900s — looked like a “solid, sound structure that would
last 200 years,” according to a story in The Courant.
The building’s life span proved considerably shorter,
however, as it headed for demolition in 2002, 1-inch cracks discovered in walls
with a foundation that was slowly sinking. The state had purchased the building
for $3.8 million in 1984, a section of the Park River, enclosed in a buried
conduit, on the property’s northern border.
The area is zoned for mixed-use redevelopment and could
potentially build on other recent redevelopment projects in the area, the
largest being the conversion of the former Hartford Office Supply building —
now the Capitol Lofts — into 112 mixed-income rentals. The $36 million project.
which included $7 million in state-taxpayer backed loans from the Capital
Region Development Authority, was completed in late 2016.
Sarah McCoy, co-owner of the Story & Soil coffee shop on
Capitol Avenue across from the Capitol Lofts, said she would like to see a
redevelopment with more retail — a restaurant or shops.
“When people come into Story and Soil and ask, ‘Where should
we go next?’ — kind of using us as a concierge for the city, we can point them
to great historical things and we can point them to Pratt Street, but there is
not that kind of retail hub that tourists are necessarily looking for,” McCoy
said.
The city clearly wants to extend the success of Capitol
Lofts and small businesses like Story and Soil, which will enter its fourth
year on Capitol Avenue in July, said I. Charles Mathews, the city’s director of
developmental services.
“I want a developer to come and think outside the box, come
up with a concept consistent with zoning that may work and that’s fundable,”
Mathews said. “As you well know, with all developers — their concept is only as
good as their ability to get financing for the project.”
It is also conceivable that a buyer might want to keep the
property as it now is, just for parking.
Michael W. Freimuth, CRDA’s executive director, said the
quasi-public agency has not been approached by any potential buyer for possible
public financing.
One challenge to the redevelopment, Freimuth said, is the
requirement that the buyer replace the 160 spaces now used by state employees,
either on the property or somewhere nearby. That, Freimuth said, will
“complicate deal-making.”
“It’ll either compromise land sale price or increase
development costs,” Freimuth said. “There’ll need to be some creative shared
parking that is allowed by zoning.”
Mallory, of the Department of Administrative Services, said
the state wants to get properties like the one on Capitol Avenue back on the
tax rolls, but the state has to find a way to replace the lost parking without
incurring more expenses.
Rebecca Lurye
HARTFORD — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Hartford Mayor Luke
Bronin warned Monday that much of President Biden’s proposed infrastructure
spending could be eaten up by long-overdue maintenance of Connecticut’s aging
roads, bridges and railroads.
“We’ve got to find a way to make sure this investment doesn’t just fix what’s broken but actually changes the experience for consumers of transportation, that it makes transit times shorter and easier and we’ve got to focus on all means of transit,” Murphy said. He visited Hartford to discuss how national transit funding may help transform the capital region, and hear from locals equally concerned with the dangers pedestrians face in the city today.
At Hartford city hall, Murphy, Bronin and representatives of
the Department of Transportation, Connecticut Airport Authority and several
community groups shared what ongoing efforts they hope will get a boost from
President Joe Biden’s proposed $2 trillion jobs, infrastructure and climate spending
plan, which includes $115 billion for roads and bridges, $85 billion for
transit and $20 billion to reduce traffic deaths.
Murphy said that proposed package could help realize some of
Connecticut’s biggest transportation priorities, such as replacing the
I-84/I-91 and “mix-master” highway interchanges in Hartford and East Hartford.
The state is beginning a multi-year study of that two-mile
section of highway and expects to develop a list of recommended projects by the
end of next year.
“I hope as congress now takes its turn and considers this
package, there is strong consideration given to the opportunity to make
transformative investments to transit,” Bronin said.
The senator called the development of those interchanges —
which segregated Hartford’s North End from the downtown and stunted the growth
of East Hartford — “one the biggest equity mistakes that has ever been
perpetuated on our region.”
Meanwhile, local advocates for public and multi-modal
transportation say they don’t want major, long-term projects to overshadow
Hartford’s urgent needs, such as a rise in pedestrian deaths.
Last year was exceptionally deadly, despite the pandemic
taking many cars off the roads. According to a preliminary count by the state
DOT, 65 pedestrians died on Connecticut roads in 2020, six more than in 2019.
Groups like the Center for Latino Progress and Connecticut Association
for Community Transportation want to see more “Complete Streets” projects that
make existing roads safer and more inviting for pedestrians, cyclists and
bus-riders of all ages and disabilities.
Sahar Amjad of Transport Hartford Academy, a Center for
Latino Progress program that engages residents around transportation, said
requests for small-scale fixes like bike routes and sidewalks get overshadowed
by “flashy” projects like the interchange.
U.S. Rep. John Larson has said that could cost $10 billion
over multiple years.“Those big investments must not distract us from the
emergency of investments we need to protect a cyclist and a pedestrian in
Hartford and the rest of the state,” said Thomas Regan-Lefebvre, also of
Transport Hartford Academy.
Murphy didn’t give details about how infrastructure spending
could look in Connecticut.
Nationally, the $2 trillion package proposes spending more
than $100 billion for improving sewers and replacing lead water pipes, $100
billion for high-speed computer broadband, $100 billion for public schools, and
$100 billion for improving the electric grid.