Biden, bipartisan senators to talk possible infrastructure deal

A bipartisan group of senators is headed to the White House to meet with President Joe Biden on Thursday in hopes of striking a deal on a high-stakes and hotly debated infrastructure package as Congress is about to leave town for a two-week recess.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told Capitol Hill reporters Thursday morning ahead of the meeting that 21 senators and Biden’s White House negotiators had reached an agreement on the plan’s “framework,” the same language other senators used late Wednesday.

Asked what areas still need to be worked out, Manchin said, “That’s why we’re going to go talk to to President Biden.”

PHOTO: Sen. Joe Manchin walks near the Senate subway on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 22, 2021.

“President Biden is the ultimate person that will have to sign off on this, to make sure he’s comfortable, and he wants a bipartisan deal,” Manchin said. “It’s a matter now, was the president comfortable.”

Biden has been hoping for a bipartisan plan that can serve as landmark legislation for his presidency.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Homeland Security Adviser and Deputy National Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, June 22, 2021.

Late Wednesday, negotiators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Ohio’s Rob Portman and Montana Democrat Jon Tester, also said that they had reached a “framework” for an infrastructure deal but were still working out some key details, inckuding how to pay for the package.

The measure being considered is expected to cost just under $1 trillion and contain $559 in new spending, sources told ABC News.

Senators have been at odds for weeks over how to pay for the package, with Republicans refusing any tax cuts and the White House rejecting any fees or tax increases for Americans making under $400,000 annually.

But while the possible deal appears to have substantial momentum, it remains to be seen how progressive Democrats will receive the plan, which is far less than they had hoped for.

PHOTO: Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., talk as they leave a meeting between a bipartisan group of senators and White House officials as they negotiate an infrastructure plan on June 23, 2021.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s position on the package is also unclear.

Democrats are also simultaneously crafting a sweeping, filibuster-proof plan via budget reconciliation to wrap in as much as $6 trillion in spending on “human infrastructure,” which includes elder and childcare, climate change, Medicare changes and immigration reforms. That package would, in part, be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy.

Though Democratic leaders — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — has not signed off on the smaller, bipartisan package being presented to Biden, they are already clearing a path for floor consideration in July.

Schumer has said that Democrats must continue their alternative route even as senators head to strike a deal with Biden.

“One can’t be done without the other. All of us agree to that. We can’t get the bipartisan bill done unless we’re sure of getting the budget reconciliation bill done. We can’t get the budget reconciliation bill done unless we’re sure of the bipartisan [bill]. I think our members across the spectrum realize that. Our Democrat members,” he said.

When Manchin was asked Thursday morning what would say to progressives who say this package isn’t enough, he said, “please don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We’re doing so much good in this piece of legislation.”

Source: Read Full Article