WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — President Joe Biden headed to Wisconsin Tuesday to pitch his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal to the American people.
If it becomes law, the program brokered last week between five Republicans and five Democrats would be the largest investment in U.S. roads and bridges since the creation of the interstate highway system.
“The American people are most interested in what we’re going to do to deliver for them: how we’re going to rebuild their roads and their railways and their bridges,” White House press secretary of Jen Psaki said.
But the deal’s future is in hardly stable in Congress, where progressive Democrats say the infrastructure spending must be accompanied by a multitrillion-dollar families plan.
“There ain’t going to be an infrastructure bill unless we have the reconciliation bill,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said.
The families plan would that would extend child care tax credits, make preschool and community college free and work to lower the cost of Medicare. So far, Republicans are not on board.
Biden is expected to highlight both programs on his trip, but he has walked back comments saying that he wouldn’t sign an infrastructure bill without the families bill.
“His view is you can do both,” Psaki said.
In a statement Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called on Biden to get his party in line to make sure the infrastructure bill crosses the finish line.
Biden was scheduled to speak in La Crosse, Wisc., at 1 p.m. ET.