Republicans draw ‘red line’ in negotiations with Joe Biden on infrastructure package
Joe Biden wants to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure and jobs. These 4 charts show where the money would go.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Vice President Kamala Harris also attended the meeting, which came shortly after Republicans moved to oust Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, from House GOP leadership.
The president has proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to cover the jobs and infrastructure package, undoing tax cuts that former President Donald Trump and Republicans passed in 2017.
Biden to propose $1.8 trillion ‘families plan’ with paid leave, child care, universal pre-K, free community college
Senate Republican have proposed a $568 billion infrastructure counteroffer limited to only physical infrastructure. Although the GOP plan doesn’t specify how to pay for the spending, Republicans have suggested user fees – something Biden flatly opposes.
McConnell suggested using a portion of $350 billion in direct aid headed to state and local governments in Biden’s American Rescue Plan, approved in March, to pay for infrastructure: “Hopefully, we can capture some of that to make this infrastructure package go forward.”
Sen. Joe Manchin D-West Virginia, a key swing vote in the evenly divided Senate, has proposed a smaller corporate tax rate increase to 25%, which the White House has indicated it’s willing to consider.
More:Senate Republicans propose $568 billion infrastructure plan to counter Biden
McCarthy rips Biden’s ‘radical socialist agenda’ in fundraising text after talks
Kicking off Wednesday’s meeting in front of reporters, Biden said, “The bottom line here is: We’re going to see whether we can reach some consensus on a compromise.” Asked how he will make that happen, Biden joked, “Easy. Just snap my fingers. It will happen.”
Finding agreement won’t be easy.
McConnell last week said he’s “100%” focused “on stopping” the Biden administration. And in an automated fundraising text message after the meeting, McCarthy told supporters, “I just met with the Corrupt Joe Biden and he’s STILL planning to push his radical Socialist agenda onto the American people.”
Roads, bridges … and caregivers? Why Biden is pushing a ‘radical shift’ to redefine infrastructure
Though Biden has said he wants to pass his infrastructure bill with Republican support, he could try to pass the American Jobs Plan with a simple majority in the Senate via budget reconciliation. It would block any attempt at a filibuster waged by Republicans and mean no Republican votes would be needed to pass a package as long as Democrats are all on board.
Senate official gives Democrats tool to bypass filibuster on certain bills. Here’s what it means.
Such a path would mirror how Biden won approval of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue plan in March after talks with Republican fizzled.
Biden’s $1.8 trillion “families plan” – proposed weeks after the jobs plan – seeks to boost the federal social safety-net with measures to subsidize child care, make prekindergarten universal, offer free community college nationally and create a national paid family leave program.
Biden and Democrats have said they want to see progress on the jobs and infrastructure plan in Congress by the end of May and passage this summer. The White House has not given a preferred timeline on the families plan.
Biden is set to continue bipartisan talks on infrastructure Thursday when he will meet with a group of six Republican senators including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, who is leading the Republican efforts.
Staff reporter Courtney Subramanian contributed to this report. Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @Joeygarrison.