Steve Davies

President Joe Biden is releasing his fiscal 2022 budget proposal today, less than six months before the new budget year starts. His budget will only cover discretionary spending – those programs that are subject to annual appropriations, which includes research and rural development programs at USDA.

Republicans have so far focused their attacks on President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package on the scope of things it would fund – like home health care – that aren’t traditionally thought of as infrastructure. But Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is also drawing attention to the $174 billion the president wants to spend to shift Americans into electric vehicles.

President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan is vague about a lot of details, including how $17 billion for waterways would be spent. But Tracy Zea of the Waterways Council tells Agri-Pulse that he expects at least $3 billion to be available for inland waterway projects. That could pay for replacing two sets of aging locks and dams on the upper Mississippi River system, he said.

President Joe Biden pushed back against Republicans who are arguing his infrastructure bill has unrelated items in it. Projects related to clean water, schools and high-speed rail all qualify as infrastructure projects, he said.

The top Democrat on the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is not opposed to moving President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure bill through the reconciliation budget process if Republicans don’t come to the table.

The Biden administration is starting to build support for its $2.25 trillion infrastructure package during the congressional break. White House officials held an off-the-record briefing for ag and rural groups on the American Jobs Plan Thursday, and President Joe Biden tasked five Cabinet officials with selling the proposal to lawmakers and the public.