Democratic senator says GOP infrastructure proposal is ‘a slap in the face’

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) on Thursday dismissed a $568 billion infrastructure proposal unveiled by his GOP colleagues earlier in the day as a “slap in the face,” setting the tone for what is expected to be a tough negotiation. 

Casey declared he wouldn’t be “a part of any scheme that sells out our seniors,” referring to the lack of funding for home care services in the GOP infrastructure plan.

The Republican proposal is more focused on traditional priorities such as repairing roads and bridges. 

The Senate Republican infrastructure framework calls for spending less than a third of President Biden’s $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan. It’s focused on traditional infrastructure priorities such as roads and bridges, public transit and rail.

But it leaves out some of Biden’s more novel proposals such as making substantial investments in what the White House calls “the infrastructure of our care economy.”

“The decision by Senate Republicans to completely cut the funding for home and community-based services that is in the American Jobs Plan is a slap in the face to older adults and people with disabilities. It’s also an insult to the workers who provide home and community-based services,” Casey said in a statement.

Casey praised Biden’s plan that proposes an increase home care workers’ incomes.

“Under the American Jobs Plan, these workers would see their incomes grow and our Nation would see jobs created,” he said. “Senate Republicans need to go back to the drawing board and present a real offer.”

“I won’t be a part of any scheme that sells out our seniors and those with disabilities who have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic,” he said.

Biden’s American Jobs Plan would “solidify the infrastructure of our care economy by creating jobs and raising wages and benefits for essential home care workers,” according to a White House fact sheet.

The White House says the president wants to provide home and community-based care for individuals who sometimes have to wait years for at-home care.