Senate Republicans on Friday again panned President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion infrastructure package. They’re expected to make another counteroffer as talks march toward this week’s deadline for progress on a bipartisan deal, reports the Associated Press.
“Now is the time to build on the progress we’ve made,” Biden told reporters from Rehoboth Beach, DE.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has said Biden will move to act without Republican support if there is no consensus when Congress returns from its Memorial Day break, and Democrats are preparing to go it alone. However White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that June 7 is not a hard deadline. “We’re going to keep our options open and see what paths we can move forward on.”
While Biden and the GOP Senators have narrowed the price gap between his initial $2.3 trillion proposal and the GOP’s $568 billion opening bid, they remain far apart on how to pay for what potentially could be a $1 trillion package. Biden’s latest proposal contained a 15 percent corporate minimum tax rate. One source told the AP the GOP sees that as an unneeded tax hike.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is leading the GOP talks. The GOP is preparing a counteroffer and will insist on using untapped COVID relief funds to pay for infrastructure investment, according to the account. Still, neither side appears ready to end the talks, even as Dems lay the groundwork to use budget rules to pass a package on their own.
Inside Towers reported that Biden previously lowered his $100 billion spend for broadband to $68 billion to match the GOP’s initial counterproposal.
Reader Interactions