Senate Finance Chair Wyden: I Think We’ll Pass Infrastructure Through Reconciliation

During an interview aired on Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) said he doesn’t believe there will be a bipartisan infrastructure bill that passes the Senate and that the Senate will move to pass a bill through reconciliation.

Host Lawrence O’Donnell asked, “[I]t sounds like what you’re telling us tonight is that it is unlikely, to put it mildly, that there will be a bipartisan infrastructure bill that’s agreed to in the Senate. That sounds like you will be moving or may soon be moving to a reconciliation process to get this done?”

Wyden answered, “That’s correct.”

O’Donnell also asked, “[Y]ou believe that what will happen now is you will move to a reconciliation process to get the infrastructure bill passed, that will include the Democratic pay fors, the Biden pay fors of a corporate tax increase and others. Is that a fair summary of where we are tonight on infrastructure?”

Wyden responded, “It essentially is. Hope springs eternal, something may happen Monday or Tuesday where people say, let’s see if we can find some common ground. But the common ground has got to involve these mega corporations paying their fair share for infrastructure they use. Republicans have said no to that. And it’s got to involve a real commitment to climate reform, and that includes action like the historic changes that have come out of the Finance Committee.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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