According to published reports, President Joe Biden will soon be revealing his plans for a nearly $1 trillion investment in infrastructure to repair and expand roads, bridges, ports, rail, increase access to high-speed internet in rural communities, upgrade water and sewer systems, and improve the power grid, including with expanded electric-vehicle charging stations to serve a new generation of vehicles.

Such an investment is long overdue. The United States has fallen behind other developed nations in its failure to adapt its infrastructure to a new century. Investment in infrastructure will create good-paying jobs, support economic expansion, make the U.S. more competitive globally and, done right, reduce the nation’s collective carbon footprint to address climate change.

Americans support rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure over any other policy issue. It is backed by the business community, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Congress needs to get this done.

So why hasn’t it? For one, Republicans reject the idea of raising taxes to pay for it. This is absurd. Once the party of fiscal discipline, Republicans have morphed into the anti-tax party. Assuring an adequate infrastructure is one of the most fundamental roles of government, so of course it makes sense to assess a tax to pay for it.

The discussion should center on how to pay for it, not whether to pay for it.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering a request to boost the corporate income tax rate, which was dropped from 35% to an absurdly low 21% during the Trump administration. It also wants to close loopholes that allow multinational corporations to protect their earnings from taxation. No one benefits more from a healthy infrastructure than these large corporations.

But the administration is also looking at saving money to help pay for the investment, including by letting Medicare negotiate prescription drug costs with Big Pharma, an approach that is long overdue and could reduce federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming decade.

What the administration has not proposed, but should, is boosting the excise tax on gasoline that has been frozen at 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel since 1993.

Biden, when he announces the details of his infrastructure plan, should use his bully pulpit to pressure the Republicans to compromise, as they again find themselves on the wrong side of a popular issue. Failing to get Republican support in the 50-50 split Senate, Democrats could again try to do a procedural end run to get around the filibuster provision and the need to find 60 votes.

As for the filibuster, we again call for a return to its “talking” roots — Senate votes blocked by continuing debate — and an end to the current practice of only having to declare a virtual filibuster to impose the 60-vote cloture provision. If forced to keep talking about why they oppose an infrastructure program, Senate Republicans may quickly determine a filibuster is not such a good idea, after all.

The Biden administration has other big plans — including free community college, universal pre-k and national paid leave policies, and extending the expanded Child Tax Credit contained in the American Rescue Plan — but these should be dealt with separately. Get infrastructure done first.

News of a big federal infrastructure bill is a reminder that Connecticut has not yet devised a plan to pay for its infrastructure needs. This could hinder the ability to match and leverage the federal funds that do become available. We were disappointed that Gov. Ned Lamont, his nose bloodied in the first half of his term when support for his toll proposal was lacking in the legislature, was not willing this year to renew his push for tolls to raise transportation funding.

Lamont instead floated the idea of a mileage-based fee on tractor-trailers to raise an estimated $90 million annually, but it hasn’t gotten much traction in the state legislature, so to speak.

It would be an awful blunder if Connecticut is not positioned to take full advantage of a massive federal infrastructure initiative.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.