The infrastructure talks ran into a snag as Republicans rejected Biden’s new offer

WASHINGTON – Efforts to reach a bipartisan agreement on the infrastructure package are in jeopardy after Republicans in the Senate rejected a $ 1.7 trillion counter-offer on Friday from President Joe Biden’s administration, exposing the wide gaps that remained in the negotiations. , Raises serious doubts about Biden’s goal to pass a comprehensive infrastructure bill with support from Democrats and Republicans. In his counter-offer to slash the original $ 2.3 trillion package, Biden proposed secondary concessions to remove funding for research and development, supply chains, manufacturing and small businesses. However, it would keep the tax increases that Republicans said they would not support under any circumstances. More: Biden pushes the US electric car revolution – a sticking point in the Republican infrastructure talks, and other changes in the counter-proposal to the US jobs plan include Biden slashing $ 100 billion to expand broadband to $ 65 billion, matching the amount specified in the $ 586 billion plan Republicans in the Senate, cut back on money for roads and bridges. “From our perspective, this is the art of searching for common ground,” White House Press Secretary Jane Psaki told a news conference on Friday. “This proposal shows a willingness to downsize, while giving the president some important areas … while also keeping his footing in the most vital areas for building our infrastructure and industries for the future.” More: More Electricity Car Charging Stations Needed For Electric Vehicle Sales: Did Biden Offer 500,000 On Target? Republicans were quick to drop the counter-proposal, and a spokeswoman for Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Virginia, who is leading Republican talks with the Biden administration, said the proposal remained “beyond the scope of what Congress could pass with bipartisan support.” Kelly Moore, Capito’s communications director, said the two sides are “far apart” today than they were following a personal meeting with Biden last week. “There are still wide disagreements between the White House and Republicans in the Senate when it comes to defining infrastructure, the size of the proposed spending, and how to pay it off.” “Based on today’s meeting, the groups appear to be more distant after two meetings with White House staff than they were after one meeting with President Biden.” Senior White House officials including Steve Richetti, the advisor to the president, unveiled the counter-offer on Friday during a conference call of a group of six Republican senators led by Capito. The White House contingent also included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raymondo. The same parties gathered on Tuesday, and regardless of Republicans, Biden’s counter-offer kept the president’s proposal to raise corporate taxes to 28% to drive new spending over the next decade. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell last week drew a “red line” opposing any package that would cancel former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for 2017 by raising the corporate tax rate. More: Republicans draw a “red line” in negotiations with Joe Biden over the infrastructure package. More: Senate Republicans propose a $ 568 billion infrastructure plan to counter Biden and despite minor concessions, Biden’s counter-offer preserves other spending that Republicans oppose. McConnell and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said they want the package to stick strictly to physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, airports, and broadband expansion, not electric vehicles, home care delivery, or the other so-called “human infrastructure” Biden has proposed. Biden’s US jobs plan will include billions to provide care for the elderly and the disabled, expand electric vehicles and other investments on top of traditional transportation infrastructure. He’s also pushing $ 1.8 trillion in investments for families and children, convinced that Biden’s gestures are unlikely to affect Republicans, some Democrats push Biden to end talks and seek to pass his infrastructure and jobs plan without Republican support. Passing the US jobs plan with a simple majority in the Senate evenly divided through the budget settlement. It would prevent any attempt at disruption by Republicans, which means Republican votes will not be needed to pass a package as long as the Democrats are all on board. More: A Senate official gives Democrats a tool to bypass procrastination on certain bills. Here’s what more means: Explained by President Joe Biden’s COVID stimulus bill in 6 graphs, this trajectory will reflect how Biden won approval for his $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 bailout in March after talks with Republicans failed. But McConnell predicted it would be difficult for Democrats to remain united around an infrastructure plan that includes a tax increase. McConnell said in an interview on Friday on Fox News: “They might be able to do that, but I think it’s going to be really difficult, and we’ll fight them all the way if that’s what they’re thinking.” Biden described the jobs proposal as a domestic investment that we have not seen in the United States since the construction of interstate highways in the 1950s and the space race a decade later, and the plan seeks to reshape the struggling US economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, while positioning the United States to fight climate change and compete against it. China is in manufacturing. Connect with Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.