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In a statement Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was disappointed that “while he was willing to scale back his plan by more than $1 trillion, the Republican group increased its proposed new investment by only $150 billion.” Psaki also said Kapito’s offer “does not meet the basic needs of our country.”
The White House and Capito ended up being $700 billion apart from each other in the end.
Capito, who has been leading the talks for Republicans, said Wednesday that while she believed Biden wanted a bipartisan infrastructure deal, she and the White House had never reached agreement on defining the bill’s infrastructure. She said the White House originally came up with a trillion-dollar plan over eight years and then backed away from it, saying it “didn’t really mean it,” which confused Capito.
Capito said she told the Biden camp that they could move forward with the infrastructure without raising taxes, but that the White House’s final offer included “many taxes.”
“When they brought the tax increases in front of me the last time when I was in the Oval Office, I knew they weren’t really serious at that point,” Capito said on Wednesday.
Capito also suggested that Biden’s camp talking to the media about the talks did not help the negotiations.
In the interview on Wednesday, Capito wasn’t too optimistic about the chances of Tuesday’s proposed problem-solving conference plan worth $762 billion in infrastructure spending over eight years. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Los Angeles), who began negotiations with Biden Tuesday, presented a plan to his House “on the same playing field.”
“I’m not sure how many Republicans are going to go with solving the problems,” Capito said. “We will have to see how they work with it. I think all ideas are welcome.”
Progressives have been pressing the Biden administration to abandon bipartisan talks and move forward to push infrastructure through reconciliation, which requires only a majority vote.
Top White House aides previously told Politico that a bipartisan deal could attract more Republicans, Capito likely among them.
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