This is not a plan that tinkers around the edges. It is a once-in-a-generation investment in America … I’m convinced that if we act now, in 50 years, people will look back and say, ‘This was the moment America won the future.
                                                                                —President Joe Biden

It’s nearly Memorial Day, and President Biden’s hoped-for agreement on an infrastructure bill seems to be in doubt given where the negotiations between Republicans and Democrats are after several weeks of discussions. Luckily there is nothing sacred about the Memorial Day target.

However, given how antsy progressive Democrats are to address infrastructure and climate issues, Biden’s target date may prove to be the line in the sand—marking the time the parties retreat to their partisan positions—each blaming the other for any failures.

A quick recap of where the parties are in their negotiations and a bit about the clean energy and climate provisions of the President’s proposed American Jobs Plan (the Jobs Plan or Plan) are in order.

                               Under common law, uttering is when a person offers as genuine
                                              a forged instrument with the intent to defraud.
 
The new Republican line in Congress is they accept climate change as real and are on board with efforts to curb harmful emissions and combat Earth’s warming. I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s a lie.

I take no pleasure in saying congressional Republicans--for the most part—are guilty of utter-ing untruths. Moreover, I recognize that all Republicans are not climate deniers, just as all Democrats are not environmental defenders.

I want to be clear about where I stand on bi-partisan action because what I’m about to say will sound like I’m painting all Republicans with the same brush. It’s not my intention.

I have great respect for Republican members of Congress like Senators Murkowski (R-AK), Collins (R-ME), and Romney (R-UT), as well as Representatives Kinzinger (R-IL), Cheney (R-WY), and Upton (R-MI).

It may sound strange to suggest the fate of President Biden’s climate agenda will parallel that of Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s at-large Republican congressional representative, but hear me out.

Cheney was first elected in 2017 and is currently the House Republican Conference Chair. The Chair is considered the Number 3 position in the House Republican pecking order. Only the Republican Whip, Steve Scalise (R-LA), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) outrank her—at least for the moment.

Cheney is a stand-up Republican conservative in the mold of John Boehner and Paul Ryan. Her father, Dick Cheney, was George W. Bush’s vice-president. When called to task by for cordially fist-bumping President Biden on his way into the House chamber for his State of the Union address she replied: We’re [of] different political parties. We’re not sworn enemies. We’re Americans.