Democrats prep infrastructure bill in U.S. Congress

[NFA] Democratic lawmakers are readying an infrastructure package in the U.S. House of Representatives that they intend to move ahead with, with or without Republican support.

This report produced by Zachary Goelman.

U.S. Democrats will start the process on Wednesday of preparing an infrastructure bill for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, with or without Republican support.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CBS on Sunday that the latest Republican offer did not meet President Joe Biden's objectives.

"We've got to remember that right now the American people are with us.

The American people want us to act.

They believe in the need to invest in - not just roads and bridges - but making sure that it's more affordable to be an American.

And, the American people are with us in terms of how we want to pay for this, which is by insuring that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.

So we think there is a very strong wind at our back.

And we've seen a lot of Republicans, certainly around the country but also a lot of Republicans in office, state their interest in doing something real on infrastructure.

We just need to see if we can get it into enough of an overlapping consensus that we can get a bill done together, because the president strongly prefers a bipartisan approach." Biden rejected a proposal from the main Republican negotiator, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito, last week.

Republicans proposed $300 billion in new spending to fix roads, bridges, broadband, and other public works.

Biden is asking for at least $1 trillion in new spending.

He will meet with Capito again on Monday, their third time face-to-face.