Infrastructure deal has $65 billion for broadband, but nothing for water and sewer work or 'human infrastructure'

President Biden and a bipartisan group of centrist senators announced on Thursday a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal that would be "the first major increase of federal public works spending since President Barack Obama’s 2009 economic rescue plan," Jonathan Weisman, Emily Cochrane and Jim Tankersley report for The New York Times.

"It would include some existing infrastructure programs, but also provide $579 billion in new money over eight years to patch cracking highways, rebuild crumbling bridges, speed rail traffic and more equitably spread high-speed internet access," the Times notes. "The plan would also pour billions of dollars into waterways and coastlines washing away as a warming planet raises sea levels, and $7.5 billion into financing a half-million electric vehicle charging stations, all part of Mr. Biden’s climate pledges."

Biden wanted to raise corporate taxes to pay for the plan, but the deal avoids raising taxes. It would be paid for by repurposing unspent pandemic relief funds, selling petroleum reserves, and $140 billion to be generated by a $40 billion hike in the Internal Revenue Service enforcement budget.

The compromise required big concessions from Democrats, and "its passage through Congress was thrown in doubt later Thursday, after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized a two-track plan to pass a second spending bill later," likely with only Democratic votes, Reuters reports. Biden said he would not sign the bipartisan bill unless the other bill also come to his desk.

Here's how major parts of the deal compare to the American Jobs Plan that Biden unveiled in March:

• The new agreement calls for $65 billion for broadband expansion to rural and other underserved areas, rather than the $100 billion Biden proposed.
• Biden's proposals to modernize drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems were eliminated from the deal.
• Also eliminated was "human infrastructure": $400 billion for Medicare to fund home care for seniors and the disabled, and $200 billion for free universal preschool and other childcare.
• Biden's proposal had included $213 billion for affordable housing, but that funding was not included in the compromise. It could be included in the Democrats' budget package.
• The compromise has a $49 billion increase in public-transit funding, compared to the $85 billion Biden originally proposed.
• Passenger and freight rail would get $66 billion in new funding, down from the $80 billion proposed by Biden, the leading fan of passenger rail.
• Electric vehicle technology would get $15 billion, not the $174 billion Biden wanted.