Meet the Press/NBC
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he believes the contents of a bipartisan infrastructure bill are "mostly good," but said he has concerns over how lawmakers may decide to fund it.
Sanders, an Independent, made the comments during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"What is in the bipartisan bill in terms of spending is, from what I can see, mostly good. It is roads and bridges, and we need to do that. That is what we are proposing in our legislation but in much greater numbers," he said.
Sanders noted that the current draft of the legislation covers just about a quarter of what President Joe Biden had asked for as part of his ambitious proposal earlier this year. Sanders has drafted his own $6 trillion plan, as Insider previously reported.
"One of the concerns that I do have about the bipartisan bill is how they are going to pay for their proposals, and they're not clear yet," he added. "I don't know that they even know yet."
Sanders said there was speculation that lawmakers would propose paying for the bill by raising the federal gas tax, by imposing a fee on electric vehicles, and by privatizing infrastructure. As Axios reported, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, last week proposed using leftover COVID-19 funding and creating a tax on electric vehicles.
"Those are proposals that I would not support," Sanders said Sunday.
"Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd asked Sanders if he would back the bill if there was support among Democrats, including moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, for a second bill passed through the Senate's reconciliation process that would address his other concerns.
As Insider previously reported, reconciliation is a legislative tactic that allows lawmakers to avoid the filibuster by requiring just 51 votes, though it involves strict budgetary rules.
"I don't know that anybody could give you an honest answer to that because nobody really knows what is going to be in this bipartisan agreement and how it is going to be paid for," Sanders said.
"So if it is roads and bridges, yeah, of course, we need to do that, and I support that. If it is regressive taxation, you know, raising the gas tax or a fee on electric vehicles, or the privatization of infrastructure, no I wouldn't support it. But we don't have the details right now," he added.
