Energy Secretary: Biden to Push Through Infrastructure Plan if No Republican Support
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden would be willing to push through his $2 trillion infrastructure plan without the support of Republican lawmakers if he cannot reach a bipartisan deal, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Sunday.
Granholm said Biden would prefer that his plan have Republican backing but, if that does not work, he would likely support using a procedural strategy called reconciliation to allow Democrats to pass it in the Senate. "As he has said, he was sent to the presidency to do a job for America. And if the vast majority of Americans, Democrats and Republicans, across the country support spending on our country and not allowing us to lose the race globally, then he's going to do that," Granholm said on CNN's "State of the Union." Most Americans currently support the Democratic president's plan, said Granholm, one of several senior Biden administration officials who promoted the proposal on television news shows on Sunday.Soldiers patrol the road near the international airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 13, 2024. Children look through a fence at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 13, 2024. A protester reacts while tires burn in the street during a demonstration following the resignation of Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 12, 2024. People walk along a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 13, 2024.
U.S. President Joe Biden talks to Harry Abramson during a visit to the Biden campaign office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 13, 2024. Demonstrators in support of Palestinians gather near where U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 13, 2024. U.S. President Joe Biden visits his Wisconsin election campaign office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 13, 2024.
Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry speaks while addressing the nation, at an unidentified location on a date given as March 11, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. (Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti via X) Former police officer Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, and leader of an alliance of armed groups, walks past journalists, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 11, 2024.
Natalia Latif with a 'Vote Uncommitted' sign during an uncommitted vote election night gathering in Dearborn, Michigan, February 27, 2024. Voting in Detroit, Michigan, during the presidential primary election, February 27, 2024. Supporters of the uncommitted movement cheer during an election night gathering, Feb. 27, 2024, in Dearborn, Michigan. Eric Suter-Bull holds a Vote Uncommitted sign outside a voting location at Saline Intermediate School for the Michigan primary election in Dearborn, Feb. 27, 2024.
Supporters for Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump show their support for him at a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, March 9, 2024. U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, speaks before U.S. President Joe Biden at a campaign rally at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, Georgia, March 9, 2024. Photos taken in Columbia, South Carolina, show former U.S. President Donald Trump, left, on Feb. 24, 2024, and current U.S. President Joe Biden on Jan. 27, 2024.