On Friday (May 21), White House officials presented Republicans with a counter-proposal of $1.7 trillion in size to seek a bipartisan agreement on an infrastructure bill. This reduces the size of President Biden’s previous infrastructure proposal by nearly $600 billion.
“It seems to us that this is the art of finding common ground,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a news conference Friday, according to The Hill in Washington. “This proposal shows a willingness to concede on scale, to make concessions in some areas that are important to the president …… while remaining firm in some areas that are critical to the future of America’s infrastructure and industrial redevelopment.”
The counter-proposal reduces funding for broadband expansion to meet a Republican counter-proposal led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, in addition to proposed investments in roads, bridges and other major infrastructure projects, Psaki said.
In addition, Psaki said the White House counter-proposal in negotiations shifts portions of investments in research and development, supply chains, manufacturing and small businesses from the infrastructure bill to other ongoing legislative proposals, including the Endless Frontiers Act and the Chips Act.
Further details of the proposals are expected to be released to the public soon.
White House officials met virtually with Capitol Hill officials on Friday as part of the ongoing negotiations on the infrastructure bill. After initially co-sponsoring a $568 billion infrastructure proposal with other Republican senators, Capito, earlier this week, also presented a counter-proposal to the White House.
The size of the Republican’s counter-proposal is not yet clear.
White House officials say they hope to see an infrastructure bill move forward by Memorial Day. But it’s unclear what results would be considered progress in their view.
Some Democrats don’t want Biden to spend too much time negotiating with Republicans and then turn around and decide to use the budget reconciliation process to push a bill that only Democrats support alone.
But Biden wants to be a leader who can work with Republicans and show unity with the outside world. And his allies have said they sincerely hope for bipartisan public passage of the bill, if a deal can be reached.
White House officials and Republican senators involved in the infrastructure bill negotiations have publicly expressed optimism about the ongoing talks, despite widespread skepticism in both parties that a deal can be reached.
Republicans have criticized not only the sheer size of the infrastructure proposal, which Biden put forward in March, but also the way he proposed raising the corporate income tax from 21 percent to 28 percent to pay for the bill’s costs.
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