Sen. Coons: ‘I do think we can pursue both’ bipartisan infrastructure package and larger reconciliation package 

Coons, author of Civilian Climate Corps Act: ‘One of the pieces of that big proposal that I'm really excited about is the Civilian Climate Corps’

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the group of 22 senators working on a bipartisan infrastructure package, joined Andrea Mitchell to discuss the two tracks of legislation to improve infrastructure across the country.

On the bipartisan infrastructure deal, Senator Coons said, “I'm working hard with senators like Rob Portman of Ohio and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to pull together the last details and to get to a text this weekend. […] This bipartisan infrastructure package will literally be the single greatest investment in infrastructure in the history of our country. […] It is something that all of us can come together around and because of the jobs that will be created, the way it will help us compete with China and other countries around the world, it's going to enjoy strong bipartisan support.”

On the $3.5 trillion package unveiled by Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday evening, Senator Coons noted it will invest in things “like child care, like making community college free, like supporting individuals and families and financial needs through something like the Child Tax Credit which is hitting mailboxes and inboxes today all over the country providing $300 per child for tens of millions of families […] One of the pieces of that big proposal that I'm really excited about is the Civilian Climate Corps – something that will put tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of younger Americans to work around our country strengthening our environment, investing in resiliency, helping our National Park Service and our public lands in a way that confronts climate and puts younger Americans to work and gives them an opportunity to serve. I literally just spoke to Senator Sanders about this on the floor a few moments ago. I'm optimistic about it.”

Full audio and video available here. A transcript is provided below. 

Q: Joining me now is Senator Chris Coons – who is part of the group of 22 members that is negotiating the bipartisan infrastructure package as well and was in the room, of course, for the caucus meeting yesterday. Take us inside that room. You have Joe Biden returning to the Hill among friends but different factions in the caucus, but from all reports, they were really well united as he went around the room.

Sen. Coons: President Biden yesterday got several standing ovations from the Democratic caucus, and what was encouraging was to hear several of the senators that ran against him for president like Budget Committee chairman, Bernie Sanders, say very positive, very supportive things. President Biden is helping pull us together as a caucus as we try to accomplish two goals at the same time. One is to finalize the details of this bipartisan infrastructure package where I'm working hard with senators like Rob Portman of Ohio and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to pull together the last details and to get to a text this weekend, and the bold, big proposal that is coming out of the Budget Committee supported by all the Democrats on that committee that would move forward a $3.5 trillion proposal to invest in things that will actually make a real difference in people's lives – like child care, like making community college free, like supporting individuals and families and financial needs through something like the Child Tax Credit which is hitting mailboxes and inboxes today all over the country providing $300 per child for tens of millions of families. That is the sort of bold vision that Chairman Sanders is putting forward and folks like Senator Sinema and Senator Manchin are working with me and many others on the bipartisan infrastructure package. President Biden did a great job of engaging our caucus and keeping all of us growing in the same direction. 

Q: Senator, let me just ask you about that bipartisan compromise package. Do you risk losing any members of that Republican-Democratic coalition because of this big package that has virtually no Republican support? You know, this two-track parallel jiu jitsu act that you guys are performing has never been done before. 

Sen. Coons: So, Andrea, this bipartisan infrastructure package will literally be the single greatest investment in infrastructure in the history of our country. We haven't kept up to speed. We haven't been competitive with other countries around the world in infrastructure. This is a bill that focuses on traditional, hard infrastructure – things like roads and bridges and tunnels and highways – as well as 21st century infrastructure like broadband. It is something that all of us can come together around and because of the jobs that will be created, the way it will help us compete with China and other countries around the world, it's going to enjoy strong bipartisan support. That is different from the much broader and bolder $3.5 trillion plan. That is a plan where Democrats will support it and Republicans will oppose it. That’s a plan that focuses on areas where we have a strong divergence: increasing taxes on the very wealthiest Americans and on the most profitable corporations that pay no taxes and using those additional resources to strengthen the social infrastructure of our country to invest in things like childcare and daycare, quality education, access to opportunity. And that's a place where we're going to fight it out in the fall where Republicans are all going to line up in opposing it and Democrats, hopefully, in the Senate will all line up in support of it. I do think we can pursue both of these because one, infrastructure is an area that we've all agreed on for the entire decade that I've been here in the Senate – we just haven't gotten it done. The other is where our parties pretty sharply diverge.

Q: And let me button this down by saying on the $3.5 trillion package, I know that the Budget Chairman wouldn't have produced it unless everybody was signed on. But are you sure you've got [Senators] Manchin and Sinema on that number and the pay-fors? 

Sen. Coons: Look, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia – very successful in business, one of our more moderate members – is on the Budget Committee. He was part of the effort to pull that together and to get it out of committee. I am optimistic that that broad package will enjoy support from every member of our caucus. I was encouraged by what I heard yesterday. But obviously – maybe not obviously – it is worth repeating that what comes out of the Budget Committee is a broad framework. Then the details have to be worked out over the next couple of weeks even months by the different committees of jurisdiction. We are much closer to final text, to a concrete – pun-intended – infrastructure proposal from the bipartisan group than we are on the other much bigger proposal. That's going to take weeks to work out the specifics of exactly what it’s going to mean in terms of changes in tax policy and in terms of changes in spending. One of the pieces of that big proposal that I'm really excited about is the Civilian Climate Corps – something that will put tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of younger Americans to work around our country strengthening our environment, investing in resiliency, helping our National Park Service and our public lands in a way that confronts climate and puts younger Americans to work and gives them an opportunity to serve. I literally just spoke to Senator Sanders about this on the floor a few moments ago. I'm optimistic about it.

###