Following enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA, P.L.117-2), the Biden administration indicated its next major priority was passing a comprehensive infrastructure package. The administration released the American Jobs Plan (AJP), a collection of infrastructure priorities that includes funding for road, highway and bridge projects as well as broadband expansion, water infrastructure, affordable housing projects and child care. The AJP has drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers for taking an expansive view on what encompasses infrastructure. To that end, two counterproposals were released in response to the AJP—one from Senate Republicans and another from the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC).

The three proposals are fundamentally different in size and scope, and each takes a unique approach to infrastructure investment. While they all share, to some degree, the same goal of investing hundreds of billions in certain projects and programs, there is little overlap between them. This alert seeks to provide clarity by comparing the three proposals and explaining where the spending and pay-fors overlap and where they diverge.