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By David Morgan, Susan Cornwell and Trevor Honeycutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday halted talks on an infrastructure bill with a key Republican, instead reaching out to a bipartisan group after she described one-on-one talks with Senator Shelley Capito as hitting a “brick wall.”
Biden changed tack after Capito, the leader of the group of six Republican senators running the negotiations, offered $330 billion in new infrastructure spending, well short of Biden’s reduced offer of $1.7 trillion.
“Senator Capito reported today that the latest offering from her collection did not, in his view, meet the basic needs of our country,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
“He expressed gratitude…but expressed disappointment that while he was willing to scale back his plan by more than $1 trillion, the Republican group only increased its proposed new investment by $150 billion,” Psaki said.
Earlier today, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the talks “appear to be deadlocked.”
A Capito spokesman said Capito had a five-minute call with the Democratic president on Tuesday.
“After negotiating in good faith and making significant progress to move closer to what the president wants, I am disappointed with his decision,” Capito said in a statement.
Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, has given new life to the prospect of a type of bipartisan bill that could eventually be paired with a Democrat-only bill to further the administration’s $2 trillion investment goals.
Republicans have been talking about a much more modest package of less than $1 trillion, with much of the money coming from initiatives already enacted into law, such as COVID-19 relief.
A bipartisan group of senators is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss next steps on infrastructure. Republicans including Bill Cassidy, Mitt Romney and Rob Portman and Democrats, including key swing votes Kirsten Senema and Joe Manchin, are expected to attend the convention.
The story continues
Liberals are growing cautious
Some liberal members of Biden’s party https://www.reuters.com/world/us/liberal-democrats-restless-over-bidens-infrastructure-talks-with-republicans-2021-06-04 have become concerned that talks are continuing for a while. Too long and may result in a package smaller than the country needs. They are acutely aware of the danger of losing their narrow majority in either or both houses of Congress in next year’s congressional elections, making progress on Biden’s agenda urgent now.
The two remain far apart https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/republicans-vs-biden-whats-their-infrastructure-plans-2021-04-22 on one of Biden’s main domestic policy goals, disagreement over how much What to spend, how to pay, and even what constitutes infrastructure.
The White House has offered to scale back its package of proposals, which includes climate change, home health care and education initiatives, to $1.7 trillion. It also includes spending on traditional infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.
“I work hard to find common ground with Republicans when it comes to America’s Jobs Plan, but I refuse to raise taxes on Americans who make less than $400,000 a year to pay for it,” Biden wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “It’s been a long time since the rich and corporations paid their fair share.”
The Republican said Biden reached out to Cassidy on Tuesday to discuss infrastructure.
“Just called POTUS to discuss infrastructure,” Cassidy wrote on Twitter. “You’ve talked about flood resilience and energy terms that would benefit Louisiana as well as the rest of our nation. Strongly support @SenCapito’s efforts. Any infrastructure package should and should be bipartisan.”
Administration officials said Biden would not let negotiations drag on indefinitely. And on Wednesday, he departs on the first overseas trip of his presidency, to attend the G7 summit in Cornwall, England.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Otis and Peter Cooney)
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