Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that President Biden wants Congress to act on his massive infrastructure package by Memorial Day.
Buttgieg told ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos that he’s been in talks with congressional Republicans and Democrats on infrastructure and that he expects to get some support even from GOP members on Biden’s more than $2 trillion plan.
But when asked about possible opposition by some House Democrats unless federal income tax deductions for state and local taxes are reinstated, Buttigieg said Biden has an “open mind” when it comes to the proposal.
“We know that this is entering a legislative process where we’re going to be hearing from both sides of the aisle, and I think you’ll find the president’s got a very open mind. But time is of the essence,” Buttgieg said.
“So we’ll look at these ideas on how to pay for it. We’ll look at ideas on where the investments ought to be, too. But the president is hoping for major progress from Congress before Memorial Day. And we can’t allow this thing to just keep dragging on, because the need is there today.”
When asked if it was realistic to expect some Republican support on infrastructure when there wasn’t any GOP votes on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief measure, Buttigieg said infrastructure was a topic many lawmakers wanted to act on.
“I think it can be. I’m having a lot of conversations with Republicans in the House and Senate who have been wanting to do something big on infrastructure for years. We may not agree about every piece of it, but this is one area where the American people absolutely want to see us get it done, where members on both sides of the aisle have been talking about getting it done for a long time,” Buttigieg said.