Although there are growing doubts about the likelihood of reaching an agreement, Republican negotiators said they plan to make a substantial counteroffer on Thursday to President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion infrastructure proposal.
“This is going to be a very good offer,” Senator Roger Wicker (R-MI) said Tuesday, adding that the proposal will come “close” to $1 trillion over eight years.
A significant increase over their initial $568 billion proposal over five years, the counteroffer will get the Republicans closer to Biden’s latest plan, while still leaving an enormous $700 billion gap between the two sides.
Enough for a deal? The lead Republican negotiator, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (WV), said Tuesday that Biden had previously signaled a willingness to accept a proposal in the neighborhood of $1 trillion, and that she may request another in-person meeting to try to seal the deal, Politico reports.
“We were pretty universal on this, I mean there was no dispute with what he said to us in the room that day,” Capito said, referring to her first meeting with Biden last week. “That’s why I think, when we left there, we were pretty optimistic that this is doable.”
Wicker also referred to what he saw as Biden’s willingness to accept a $1 trillion deal. “We’re going to hit a figure very close to what the president said he would accept,” he said.
The White House, though, pushed back against that version of events, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki saying the latest $1.7 trillion offer correctly represents the president’s stance on the matter, casting doubt on Biden’s purported interest in accepting a much smaller deal.
Financing the GOP proposal will also likely be an issue. Wicker said that Republicans want to repurpose funds already authorized for Covid relief to help pay for their plan, an option that will not likely be embraced by Democrats, who want to use corporate tax hikes to fund their programs.
Bipartisan end run? Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators is working on its own infrastructure proposal, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Tuesday. The group reportedly includes Sen. Joe Manchin (WV), a moderate Democrat who could be a key vote on any eventual package.
Romney told The Washington Post that the group is close to agreement on a plan that focuses on traditional elements of infrastructure such roads and bridges. “We’re not very far from the Biden proposal on areas where we both think it’s appropriate for an infrastructure bill,” he said.
The more expansive set of programs included in Biden’s proposal, such as money for elder care and electric vehicles, are not part of the bipartisan blueprint, Romney said. Also being left out is Biden’s proposal to undo parts of the 2017 Republican tax cuts in order to help pay for his plan.
Clock is ticking. Pressure to reach a deal is building as negotiators run up against Biden’s self-imposed deadline of Memorial Day. Leaning into that pressure, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Tuesday that he plans to take up infrastructure in July.
In the meantime, negotiators will continue to make offers and counteroffers, all in the hope – or at least the appearance – of trying to reach a bipartisan deal.
