Infrastructure talks are starting to gain momentum in Congress two weeks after President Joe Biden rolled out his sprawling $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.
A Republican-led group of 20 lawmakers is gearing up to make a counteroffer in a bid to strike a bipartisan deal on a smaller package. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia floated one this week in the range of $600 billion to $800 billion. But there are fresh signs of discord among Republicans on the price tag and it's far from settled.
The sole factor binding them together is opposition to Biden's corporate tax hike. Capito called it a "non-negotiable red line," and other Republicans like Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Susan Collins of Maine agreed they wouldn't budge.
Instead, they are suggesting potential "user-fees," a set of charges levied on the users of a federal service or good, such as raising the federal gas tax. User-fees have the support from the Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business group.
"My own view is that the pay-for ought to come from people who are using it. So if it's an airport, the people who are flying," Sen. Mitt Romney told reporters on Wednesday. "If it's a port, the people who are shipping into the port; if it's a rail system, the people who are using the rails; If it's highways, it ought to be gas if it's a gasoline-powered vehicle."
That could shift the financial burden of an infrastructure overhaul from companies onto people, Kevin DeGood, an infrastructure expert at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress, told Insider. It has triggered intense resistance among Democrats.
"If the Republican position is that we're going only going to do this by raising the gas tax and we won't accept an additional penny of corporate revenue, that won't be something our caucus can get behind," a Senate Democratic aide granted anonymity to speak candidly said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-infrastructure-cost-companies-average-people-gax-tax-congress-2021-4 