Biden’s infrastructure deal on shaky ground as the blame game begins

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Washington CNN –

President Joe Bidens’ bipartisan infrastructure deal is in a perilous state, with Republicans and Democrats remaining at bay on a series of outstanding issues after the latest round of furious talks, the clearest sign to date that the one of the main legislative priorities of the White House could collapse in the next days.

Talks hit a crunch more than a month after Biden and a group of 10 senators from both sides trumpeted a bipartisan framework detailing their $ 1.2 trillion deal to strengthen waterways, bridges, systems water and broadband networks across the country.

But turning that brief overview into comprehensive legislation has proven extremely difficult, with the two sides still arguing over funding levels for public transit systems and exactly how to pay for the nearly $ 600 billion in new spending amid a scramble. handful of other thorny issues.

If talks fail, Democrats could try to fit elements of the plan into a larger $ 3.5 trillion proposal that their party is trying to push through by following party straight lines through the budget process. But that would only increase the cost and could turn off moderates already skeptical of the plan.

Democratic negotiators, including the White House, sent Republicans on Sunday evening a comprehensive offer to complete each major open item, a Democratic source close to the talks told CNN. The offer included major unresolved issues including funding for highways and bridges, money for water supply systems, current wage laws, the use of unresolved Covid-19 money spent as a means of financing the bill as well as an infrastructure bank and public transport financing.

But Republicans pushed back on the effort. A source familiar with the GOP told CNN on Monday that the offer was disheartening as it tried to reopen many issues the bipartisan group had already agreed to.

The source warned that if this were to be successful, the White House will need to be more flexible like the Republicans have done and listen to members of the group that produced this framework.

Republicans have made very reasonable and good faith offers every step of the way, including in transit on Wednesday, the source said, adding: This offer was met in silence for three days.

Now a blame game is underway, another indication that the negotiations are in danger of collapsing.

A Democratic source close to the talks said Republicans were on the move, arguing, for example, that Republicans had reneged on a deal the group had reached on how to handle funding for water supply systems and 15 billion dollars more for lead pipe contamination problems. GOP Senator Mitt Romney has come up with something completely impractical, the Democratic source said.

The same Democratic source claims Democrats have said they will respect the GOP’s proposal on highway funding as long as Republicans accept their party’s proposal on transit. The GOP has also said no to this idea.

The Romneys office responded on Monday by calling the accusations of moving and breaking a deal ridiculously bogus.

As the White House website shows, the water deal was for $ 55 billion in new spending, Romney’s office said in a statement. After days of radio silence, (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer now wants $ 70 billion. This is a direct violation of the bipartite agreement.

The highly deliberate bipartisan plan enters a critical week on Capitol Hill, and some lawmakers had projected optimism ahead of a possible procedural vote this week, potentially Monday. But with no resolution yet reached, negotiators face a steep climb to resolve remaining issues after a weekend of talks fails to reach a deal.

The top 10 negotiators plan to meet on Monday to get deliberations back on track. We were on the last two things, and I think you’re going to see a bill Monday afternoon, Democratic Senator Mark Warner, one of the negotiators working on the bipartisan deal, told Fox News on Sunday.

The pressure is on after Republicans in the Senate blocked a vote to start debate on the bipartisan infrastructure bill last week. That vote was 49-51, below the 60 votes needed to move the measure forward.

A group of 22 Democratic and Republican senators later said they were close to a final deal and were optimistic about the finalization and preparation of this landmark bipartisan proposal to strengthen the Americas’ infrastructure and create well paying jobs in the next few days. .

But the days since have brought closer scrutiny from lawmakers outside the negotiating group, including Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, who on Sunday warned against treating federal funding as government money. monopoly.

A very, very important category to me is how it’s all going to be paid for, Jake Tapper, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told CNN of the State of the Union.

We were now talking about an additional $ 600 billion in addition to ordinary expenses. It’s completely out of control. There are people who think it’s Monopoly money, but it’s not, Jake. And so Im concerned. I think the way we should pay for this increase in infrastructure spending is to reallocate the money that we have already approved, but which has not yet come out.

Despite the arduous negotiations, lawmakers on both sides signaled on Sunday that a deal was near.

GOP Senator Rob Portman, a key negotiator on the bipartisan infrastructure deal, said he was optimistic the group will reach a deal this week, telling ABC News they were at around 90% path.

I feel good I did it this week, the Ohio Republican said.

That message was echoed by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who told CBS News negotiators were very close to a deal on Sunday.

Were in the last strokes, were in the last days. We were optimistic, we all engage daily, several times a day with members of the Senate, and we felt really good about it, she said.

The bipartisan effort is part of a two-pronged strategy to advance the White House’s broad economic agenda, as Democrats continue to lay the groundwork to push forward a $ 3.5 trillion package expanding the safety net social.

The Democratic bill, which they hope to pass through a budget process known as reconciliation, is expected to set the stage for Democrats to pass measures such as expanding the child tax credit, the offer paid medical and family leave and potentially even the overhaul of the country’s immigration system. The bill is also expected to include changes to the US tax code.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated on Sunday that she would not put the bipartisan $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill in the House unless the 3 largest budget reconciliation bill , $ 5 trillion will not be passed by the Senate.

I won’t put it down unless we have the rest of the initiative, Pelosi told ABC News.

So I am excited that they will have a bipartisan bill. Hope it will be soon. But yeah, I’m staying there, because the point is the president said he wanted to have a bipartisan bill, and we all do, she continued. But this is not the limitation of the President’s vision. He wants to rebuild better. He wants to do it in a way that, again, involves many more people in the prosperity of our country.

This story and the title were updated with additional developments on Monday.

CNNs Paul LeBlanc, Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby contributed to this report.

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