White House Ends Talks on Capito-Led GOP Infrastructure Plan

The White House and Senate Republicans confirmed Tuesday they have ended talks on infrastructure legislation following a call between President Joe Biden and Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia (see 2106070063). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told reporters Democrats are now more actively “pursuing” using the budget reconciliation process to enact infrastructure legislation (see 2103160001) even as he continues to hope for a bipartisan deal. Biden told Capito "the latest offer from her group did not, in his view, meet the essential needs of our country," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in a statement. "He offered his gratitude to her for her efforts and good faith conversations, but expressed his disappointment that, while he was willing to reduce his plan by more than $1 trillion, the Republican group had increased their proposed new investments by only $150 billion." The White House agreed with the GOP on $65 billion for broadband (see 2105270072). Biden "is committed to moving his economic legislation through Congress this summer, and is pursuing multiple paths to get this done," including a pending offer from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and four other senators. The Sinema-Portman proposal was expected to total around $900 billion and to include broadband money, aides said. "While I appreciate President Biden’s willingness to devote so much time and effort to these negotiations, he ultimately chose not to accept the very robust and targeted infrastructure package, and instead, end our discussions," Capito said in a statement. "I am disappointed by his decision," but "this does not mean bipartisanship isn’t feasible." Capito and other Republicans “seem to be running into a brick wall,” but the bipartisan proposal “might be closer to what the president needs,” Schumer said. “That’s good, but that’s not going to be the only answer. We all know as a caucus we will not be able to do all the things that the country needs in a bipartisan way. And so, at the same time, we are pursuing the pursuit of reconciliation, and that is going on at the same time.” Some parts of the infrastructure package could move in a bipartisan deal while others move via reconciliation, he said.