The Infrastructure Guru

Looking ahead to the stimulus, here’s a profile for your weekend reading pleasure of Congress’s infrastructure guru. The House dropped its version yesterday and the Senate is expected to have theirs ready by next week. Though similar, the two are not identical and will have to be reconciled in the coming weeks. Barring complications, the leadership is hoping to have something to Obama’s desk by the first week of February. Both chambers will be holding markup hearings – a step toward regular order long abandoned for such bills on the Hill and an attempt to ensure that the final product will be as bipartisan as possible. You can be sure every member of the five committees – Appropriations, Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce in the House and Appropriations and Finance in the Senate – is looking at what amendments they might offer in the hearings. Even with this attempt to reach across the aisle, Obama may be ruing the day he said he wanted 80 Senate votes for this because it sets a high bar for his first big vote as president – one that will be tough to hit even with the Dems’ expanded majorities.