President Joe Biden and Republican congressional leaders said Wednesday they see a narrow opening for compromise on infrastructure spending yet significant obstacles remain, particularly on tax increases sought by the administration.
Republicans indicated they’re unwilling to budge from their opposition to the scope of Biden’s plans or raising tax to fund them. That stance, and Washington’s hyper-partisan environment, hung over the first White House meeting with the four congressional leaders and leave little room for striking a deal on the president’s proposal.
Biden acknowledged the ideological divide at the beginning of the nearly two-hour meeting, but said he would see if he could “reach some consensus on a compromise” on his infrastructure proposal with the House and Senate GOP leaders, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell.
“We’re going to talk a lot about infrastructure today to see if there’s any way we can reach a compromise that gets the people’s work done and is within the bounds of why we ran,” Biden said. “And that’s the purpose of this meeting.”
Asked by a reporter how he plans to do that, Biden joked, “easy, just snap my fingers, it’ll happen.”
McCarthy called the discussion with Biden “very strong” and said “there is a place where we can find bipartisanship,” but insisted that he was committed to a much smaller package than Biden’s $4 trillion jobs and families proposal.
He and McConnell said they had told Biden they would not revisit 2017 tax cuts enacted under former President Donald Trump, ruling out Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate rate from 21%. “That’s our red line,” McConnell said.
Defining Infrastructure
Both Republicans also said that infrastructure should be defined in a more limited way than the White House envisions, restricting new spending to physical projects like roads and bridges. Biden included investments in broadband access, childcare and other programs in his plan.
The White House is ramping up efforts to advance the president’s ambitious economic plans. Biden’s meeting put his top Democratic allies in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the same room together with McConnell and McCarthy.
“I am more optimistic now that we will do so in a bipartisan way,” Pelosi said after the meeting. “But we’ll see.”
The timing is crucial—the White House has said it wants to see Congress move legislation by Memorial Day. But the meeting also may help satisfy moderate Democrats who have insisted on outreach to Republicans as the plans are developed.
As a candidate, Biden said the relationships he built during his three decades in the Senate could help pass bipartisan bills through the closely divided Congress. But he received no Republican votes for his stimulus package, and finding agreement on his sweeping economic plans could prove even more difficult.
Republican Objections
GOP lawmakers have balked at the price tag for his plans, which would dramatically expand the social safety net along with funding new roads, bridges and rail lines.
McConnell said last week that “100% of my focus is on standing up to this administration,” a remark that put a damper on already slim hopes that Biden could leverage his personal relationship with the longtime Republican leader to strike deals.