A bipartisan group of senators from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) on Saturday introduced a $303.5 billion surface transportation bill. The bill, if enacted, would reauthorize Department of Transportation (DOT) funding for highways, roads, and bridges which is due to expire in September. The proposed spending is 34 percent higher than that previously authorized by Congress in 2015. The senators introduced the bill amid ongoing disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan. Republicans rejected Biden’s proposal on arrival. Acting in unison, Democrats can technically push through Biden’s plan without Republican support via the reconciliation process, but that may be hard to do after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he’s going to look for a bipartisan way to approve Biden’s plan. The bipartisan surface transportation proposal is sure to play a role in the tussle over Biden’s plan. It shows …