No Labels Poll: Voters Support the BIF, Oppose Tying It to Other Spending Bill
Your Friday morning update from No Labels
We’ve been saying that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework is what Americans want.
Now, the numbers prove it.
No Labels partnered with HarrisX to poll more than 12,000 voters in 33 key congressional districts about the BIF, the $3,500,000,000,000 Democratic social spending and climate plan, and whether the two should be linked -- as Democratic leaders insist -- or considered separately. Our poll -- available in full on our website – found that…
· 72% of all respondents support the BIF
· 76% say passage of the BIF should not be linked to passage of the $3.5 trillion plan
· 61% say the larger plan should pass only if it can attract bipartisan support
· 78% are concerned the larger plan would lead to tax increases down the line
· 74% are concerned the larger plan could result in runaway inflation
(Click here for the entire seven-minute segment from MSNBC’s Morning Joe.)
The Hill says the poll “found little appetite among voters for Congress to tie the budget blueprint to the infrastructure bill.” Similarly, a new AP poll finds that “the overwhelming majority of Americans -- about 8 in 10 -- favor plans to increase funding for roads, bridges and ports and for pipes that supply drinking water” -- but differ considerably on new spending beyond that for hard infrastructure.
As the Olympics get underway in Tokyo, the 23 Senate BIF negotiators are nearing the end of their own marathon. While they are still working out how to handle funding for transit and broadband, Roll Call reports that Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jon Tester (D-MT) are hopeful that the dispute will not keep the group from moving forward. Says Punchbowl: “There’s been so many twists and turns,” but it is “hard to see this group coming this far and falling short at this point.”
Once it does, quick passage in the Senate could follow. Politico says the president “may finally be nearing the bipartisan win he's long yearned for,” with White House negotiators “working aggressively to settle disagreements with GOP senators.” Even Senate Democrats who are not enthusiastic about the BIF plan to vote for it.
The fight then shifts to the House -- and to Speaker Pelosi’s demand that the BIF’s fate be bound to that of the big spending bill that fewer voters -- and no Republican legislators -- support.
The facts -- and the polling numbers -- are clear. We are closer now than we have been in years to the bipartisan passage of legislation to provide real, desperately needed repairs and upgrades to the nation’s hard infrastructure.
Democrats and Republicans want it. President Biden and a big, bipartisan group of House and Senate members want it. The American people want it.
Let’s do it.
Also…
· Portman and Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Mark Warner (D-VA) “introduced bipartisan legislation to help safeguard our nation’s critical infrastructure networks against cybersecurity threats.”