WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden revealed his next big policy proposal Wednesday: Infrastructure reform.
The multi-trillion dollar proposal has the potential to impact every community in America in one way or another.
The president wants to raise corporate taxes from 21% to 28% in order to pay for the program over 15 years.
Twenty-thousand miles worth of roads and over 10,000 bridges are set for upgrade under the proposal, not to mention improvements to VA hospitals, child care facilities, train routes and water lines.
Just a proposal
But it's important to remember this is just the opening salvo.
That's because this measure will need congressional approval, and getting a major package like this through won't be easy.
Even though Democrats could pass this using reconciliation, a procedure in the Senate that allows bills to move forward with 51 votes instead of the usual 60, passage is far from guaranteed. Assuming no Republicans support the plan, every Democratic senator would have to back it for it to become law.
Not to mention, Speaker Nancy Pelosi would only be able to lose three Democrats under the current makeup of the House and still pass it into law.
History also makes this package a challenge. Congress hasn't passed a significant tax increase since 1993, an indication of how difficult raising taxes can be.
Negotiations are expected to last several months with the earliest votes happening sometime in July.
