Transport Topics (June 28, 2021)
The optimism surrounding the announcement of a bipartisan infrastructure deal on Thursday was doused with a bucket of sudden uncertainty on Friday, as Republican senators expressed shock to learn of conditions President Joe Biden set for signing the deal. In Biden’s second of two press conferences Thursday, he said he would only sign the infrastructure deal in tandem with a companion package of nearly $6 trillion containing funding for other administration priorities. Senators who were part of the bipartisan group were never told of such an explicit linking of the two packages, two people familiar with the discussions told the Associated Press. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeted Friday, “No deal by extortion!”