President Joe Biden-Capito infrastructure talks end

Negotiations between the White House and a small group of Republican senators over a bipartisan infrastructure bill collapsed Tuesday, weighed down by deep disagreements over what constitutes infrastructure and how much money should be allocated for it.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, of West Virginia, the lead Republican negotiator, said President Joe Biden had spoken to her by phone Tuesday and ended the talks.

“I spoke with the president this afternoon, and he ended our infrastructure negotiations,” Moore Capito said in a statement.

“Throughout our negotiations, we engaged respectfully, fully, and very candidly—delivering several serious counteroffers that each represented the largest infrastructure investment Republicans have put forth,” she said.

Tuesday’s announcement marked the end of more than a month of intense negotiations between Republican senators, the president and their respective staffers.

With no grand bargain in sight, Biden on Tuesday reached out to three senators who are part of a bipartisan group that has been quietly working on a backup infrastructure plan.

The other bipartisan infrastructure talks

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., tweeted that Biden called him Tuesday and “brought up flood resiliency and energy provisions” that would boost his state.

“Strongly support [Capito’s] efforts. Any infrastructure package should and must be bipartisan,” he wrote.

Biden also called two centrist Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

The president “urged them to continue their work with other Democrats and Republicans to develop a bipartisan proposal that he hopes will be more responsive to the country’s pressing infrastructure needs,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Biden is scheduled to leave for Europe on Wednesday, but Psaki said he designated key Cabinet members and White House aides to meet with the senators while he is traveling.

Other senators working on the alternative plan include Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah. The lawmakers crafting the proposal planned to meet on Tuesday afternoon.

The group aims to win over as many as 20 centrist senators to back their plan once it is finalized.

While it is unclear what that final plan would contain, it could cost just under $900 billion, according to reports. The price tag would be roughly half of Biden’s last $1.7 trillion offer to the GOP.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that the bipartisan group of senators “are trying to put something together that might be closer to what the president needs” than Capito’s offer.

While Capito last sent Biden an offer approaching $1 trillion, only a fraction of it was actual new spending, and the rest was money repurposed from other federal agencies.

But congressional leaders have not yet put their weight behind the larger group of senators’ talks. And it is unclear whether Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would support any big infrastructure bill at all.

On the Democratic side, Manchin will play an outsized role in any eventual bill passed by the chamber, where Democrats only hold a one-seat majority.

So far, Manchin has insisted that any infrastructure bill be bipartisan. His stance could force his party to embrace a smaller, bipartisan infrastructure package this summer and then wait until later in the year to tackle other priorities, such as care for dependents and clean energy projects.

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[chuckgraham]

REALLY? This is how we give the "news" now? We just read off our cell phone?

[chrundlethegreat]

Are teleprompters that expensive or is she checking her Facebook on the air?

[jmccOutdoors]

Lady you weren’t told anything. You read it from your Facebook news feed

[nin]

No deal is better for America than them spending like drunken sailors.

[DMT-ixzj]

Clowns to the left of me jokers to the right here i am stuck in the middle with you.

[Amodelabeast]

Is she really reading the news on her cellphone?

[boburnem]

How would they pay for it without tax increases??
Who tf is voting for these people????

[lordofnothing]

Bet she reading her news report straight from some guys twitter post.

[ORLY]

All the bridges in the country will be collapsed and these fools still won't be able to get anything done about it.

[someonenew]

Keep infrastructure about infrastructure not Democratic pork fat

[sblank]

That's the lazy man's way of making money. Just raise taxes. It's like hey everyone just give us money because we are to lazy to do anything to actually make money. Also I should not have to pay higher taxes because of their mismanagement and waste of money.

[Non-Giving-UpSchoolGuy]

Republicans need to protect their corporate daddies.

[gregorychalmers]

How much can be stolen is the question

[laurenkrist]

Gotta end this minority rule garbage and let the government who's in the majority, and supported by majority of Americans, pass real bills.

[garygoodine]

My wife wild visiting in New York contracted the covid virus and develop pneumonia and I now ask you to pray with me for her recovery:
Heavenly Father, I call on you right now in a special way. It is through your power that Samantha was created. Every breath she take, every morning she wake and every moment of every hour, she live under your power.
"For if you created Samantha from nothing, you can certainly re-create her. Fill her with the healing power of your spirit. Cast out anything that should not be in her. Mend what is broken. Root out any unproductive cells. Open up any blocked arteries or veins and rebuild any damaged areas. Remove all inflammation and cleanse any infection.
"Let the warmth of your healing love pass through her body to make new any unhealthy areas so that her body will function the way you created it to function.
"And Father, restore Samantha to full health in mind, body and spirit, so she may serve you the rest of her life.
"I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
Please share this with everyone you know and ask them to pray for my wife's recovery
God bless you and your family

[Ivan.A.Churlyuski]

My 12 year old doesn’t deserve the out of control spending and debt our politicians are handing her.

[toobzombe]

Capito said Biden actually "walked away"?? Incredible!
Wandered away, stumbled away, shuffled away, maybe even mumbled and fumbled away, but walked away???

[turbocat]

What ever happened to a Republican party that believed in fiscal responsibility?

[adamschaeffer]

One would think an infrastructure bill would be pretty easy to pass since it deals with infrastructure. But apparently when you try and pave roads with pork people tend to notice

[xuantran-bemp]

don't ever call this evil is America President.