On November 23, 2020, Mike Bloomquist was quoted in Communications Daily on whether President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration is likely to boost prospects for a major infrastructure spending package. According to the article, lawmakers in both parties are hopeful but believe questions about how to pay for the additional infrastructure will remain a major sticking point amid expectations that there will still be divided control of Congress.
Bloomquist cautioned that reaching an infrastructure deal isn’t easy, even when a party controls Congress and the White House. Republicans thought after Trump’s 2016 election, when they controlled both chambers, “we were going to get a big infrastructure package,” Bloomquist recalled. “Instead, the old chestnut of ‘Infrastructure Week’ kept coming around” and a legislative deal never materialized. Congress’s looming debate over reauthorizing the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, which must be done by September 30, will provide 'an interesting vehicle' for infrastructure funding," he said. How “you pay for it” will remain a major hurdle.