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As Senate Republicans prepare to unveil their much slimmer infrastructure counter-proposal this week during meetings with President Joe Biden, roughly five dozen congressional Democrats are urging party leaders to ignore the GOPs demands for anarrow package and instead embrace progressives calls for rapidly making robust and comprehensive investments to improve life for working people in the U.S.

In a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (DCalif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) on Monday, nearly 60 House Democratsled by Congressional Progressive Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (DWash.) but including across section of the partywrote that the infrastructure framework unveiled last month by the Biden administration made acompelling case to the American people that government can and should be aforce for good in thiscountry.

Nonetheless, the Democratic lawmakers, who are currently developing Build Back Better legislation in the House, advocated for anational infrastructure plan that is bigger, broader, and enacted as quickly as possiblewith or without the support of congressionalRepublicans.

While bipartisan support is welcome, the pursuit of Republican votes cannot come at the expense of limiting the scope of popular investments, wrote thelawmakers.

Echoing points made last week by climate justice advocates who criticized Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer for engaging in performative negotiations with GOP leaders, the House Democrats stressed in their letter that widespread climate denial among Republican lawmakers poses athreat to bold, necessary action onclimate.

Moreover, they wrote, Republicans also enacted former President Donald Trumps massive tax giveaway80% of which accrued to the wealthy and large corporationsand will likely remain amajor obstacle to any opportunities to secure fair, progressive tax revenues to curb income and wealthinequality.

Indeed, as Common Dreams reported last month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (RKy.) has already vowed to oppose Bidens $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and $1.8 trillion American Families Planthe White Houses framework for improving the nations physical and social infrastructureas long as the spending proposals include even modest tax hikes on the richest Americans and corporations, which they do.

Furthermore, the House Democrats wrote in their letter, Republicans have consistently opposed the high-road labor and equity standards that President Biden rightly included in the American Jobs Plan to ensure the creation of high-paying union jobs with benefits, equitable hiring for women [and] people of color, and investments in Indigenous and marginalized communities that have endured decades ofunderinvestment.

On ahost of priorities that can be delivered by this Congress, the trade-offs for Republican votes are stark, the lawmakers added. We ask that you work with the White House to prioritize transformative legislation that our voters were promised, which may require reforming or even eliminating the Senate filibuster as well as wielding the full powers available of the presidency, vice presidency, and relevant federal agencies to achieve thesegoals.

As ABC News, which first obtained the House Democrats letter, reported Tuesday, Biden also appears to be pursuing amulti-track strategy on infrastructure legislation that could involve amore measured initial compromise with Republicans on funding for roads, bridges, airports and broadband, followed by alarger package that Democrats could pass with 50 votes in the Senate using the budget reconciliationprocess.

Warning against this approachwhich is also favored by conservative Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.)the House Democrats wrote that we believe that robust legislation comprising the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan must be enacted as rapidly as possible, preferably as asingle, ambitious package combining physical and social investments hand inhand.

Physical and human infrastructure needs are inextricably linked, the lawmakers noted. Peopleespecially women and people of color, who have suffered disproportionate job losses during this recessioncannot get back to work without child care, long-term care, paid leave, or investments in education and job retraining. This human infrastructure cannot be secondary to the physical infrastructure needs or languish under Republicanobstructionism.

As for the size of the infrastructure package, the lawmakers pointed out that the presidents initial proposals pale in comparison to the $7 trillion figure put forward by Biden on the campaigntrail.

Bidens campaign proposal to invest approximately $7 trillion in health, clean energy, infrastructure, and child care, the lawmakers noted, is much closer in ambition to the roughly $10 trillion THRIVE Act, which seeks to create 15 million good-paying union jobs, reduce racial inequality, and cut climate pollution in half by 2030. Introduced last month, the THRIVE agenda is co-sponsored by more than 100 members of Congress and endorsed by over 250 labor, racial justice, and environmentalgroups.

Given the scale of our unemployment, caregiving, healthcare, climate, and inequality crises; the historically low cost to make the necessary investments our country needs; and the singular governing opportunity presented to us, we urge our colleagues in Congress to pursue alarger upfront investment that truly meets this historic moment, the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Pelosi and Schumer, suggesting that the THRIVE Act represents asolid infrastructureplan.

Emphasizing their eagerness to enhance their constituents daily lives and strengthen their faith in agovernment that works for working people, an economy that provides security and opportunity to all, and aplanet that their children and grandchildren can enjoy for generations to come, the House Democrats told Pelosi and Schumer that they hope to work with you and our committee chairs to develop arapid legislative timeline to enact an ambitious and comprehensive proposal before the Augustrecess.

This story first appeared at Common Dreams.

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House Progressives Are Urging Democrats to Ditch the GOP and Pass a Bold Infrastructure Plan - In These Times