On July 30, 2021, Mike Bloomquist was featured on SupplyChainBrain, where he discussed the politics of, and prospects for, passage of the $1 trillion-plus infrastructure proposal put forth by the Biden administration.
Congress is currently on “two tracks,” says Bloomquist: a $1 trillion bill to develop “hard” infrastructure such as bridges, roads, airports, ports and railroads, and a proposal for funding “soft” infrastructure in the form of social initiatives such as paid family leave, extension of the childhood tax credit, an increase in personal income tax for households earning more than $400,000 a year, and inclusion of vision and dental coverage in Medicare.
The first proposal had won bipartisan support, with multiple funding mechanisms subject to Congressional Budget Office approval. But it reached a roadblock when Republicans balked at a plan to boost funding for the Internal Revenue Service in order to prevent tax cheats. Legislators are “still trying to figure out how to fill that hole,” Bloomquist says.
The “soft” proposal is solidly opposed by Republicans and would have to be passed entirely with Democratic support, which is unlikely in an evenly divided Senate under threat of filibuster, and a mere four-vote majority in the House of Representatives.
Click here to access the interview.