President Joe Biden would be prepared to push through his $2 trillion infrastructure package without the backing of Republican lawmakers, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Sunday.
Granholm suggested that the president may consider attempting to pass the legislation by using a budget process to cut out Republicans and to bypass the filibuster, lowering the threshold required in the upper chamber to a simple majority from 60 votes.
It was used by Senate Democrats to pass the latest COVID-19 relief package with zero Republican votes.
“As he has said, he was sent to the presidency to do a job for America. And if the vast majority of Americans, Democrats and Republicans, across the country support spending on our country and not allowing us to lose the race globally, then he’s going to do that,” Granholm said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Granholm added that Biden would prefer his infrastructure package to have bipartisan support, however.
“His sincere preference, his open hand, is to Republicans to come to the table and say, ‘if you don’t like this how would you pay for it, if you don’t like this, what would you include?’ So much of this, though, includes priorities that Republicans have supported,” she said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled last week that he’s unlikely to support Biden’s infrastructure package, saying he would not back spending or “massive” tax hikes that could balloon the national debt.