Biden Floats New Infrastructure Spending Offer of $1 Trillion
President makes legislative proposal in meeting with Republican Sen. Capito but negotiators remain far apart
WASHINGTON—President Biden told a top Senate Republican that he wants $1 trillion in new spending in infrastructure legislation, according to people briefed on the matter, a proposal that still leaves the White House far apart from GOP lawmakers ahead of a deadline to show progress in the talks.
During a Wednesday afternoon White House meeting with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.), Mr. Biden laid out his $1 trillion proposal and signaled he remained committed to paying for the plan with corporate tax increases, the people said. Any new spending would be on top of $400 billion in projected federal spending over five years if current programs continued, one of the people said.
Previously, Mr. Biden had proposed a $1.7 trillion offer, which was also above baseline levels. Congress will need to set new baseline spending by the end of this fiscal year.
Senate Republicans have rejected any new taxes to pay for the infrastructure spending, with some suggesting user fees instead. Also, the spending gulf between the GOP and the White House is wider than it appears in the top-line numbers, as the Republicans’ counter offers have included projected spending, while the White House’s proposals are in addition to projected spending.
Senate Republicans unveiled a plan last week to spend $928 billion over eight years to update roads, bridges, rail and transit systems. That offer is an increase from the GOP’s original five-year $568 billion proposal, but only about $257 billion of their latest proposal is above baseline levels, according to the Republicans.
Mrs. Capito and other Senate Republicans working on the compromise infrastructure legislation are discussing making a counteroffer to the White House on Friday, when Mr. Biden and Mrs. Capito are planning to speak again. Politico first reported Mr. Biden’s offer.
Biden administration officials have said infrastructure talks need to show a clear direction toward an agreement by the time Congress returns from its recess on June 7. Another group of lawmakers, including Sens. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) and Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), have been holding their own discussions on infrastructure, preparing a plan to release if the talks between Republicans and the White House fall apart.
“If Republicans don’t want to cooperate and help us seriously address the many crises we’re facing today, then, yes, we have to move forward without them,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) tweeted Wednesday. Mr. Sanders is the chair of the Budget Committee which would be involved in any effort to pass the bill along party lines.
Under the reconciliation process, lawmakers pass a budget resolution that then provides committees with instructions to craft legislation meeting the budget’s target. That process allows lawmakers to pass bills in the Senate with just a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes most bills require.
The Senate is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Top Democrats have said they are open to using reconciliation, though the entire party would need to be on board. Vice President Kamala Harris could act as the tiebreaking vote.
Democrats already used reconciliation to pass a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package earlier this year using the budget tied to fiscal year 2021, which ends Sept. 30. Although the Senate parliamentarian, the nonpartisan official who gives guidance about what is permitted, has indicated that lawmakers could technically use the same budget resolution to pass additional legislation, her subsequent guidance has indicated that could be cumbersome and run into procedural challenges, according to a copy of the ruling viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Democrats have indicated they will likely try to pass a fiscal year 2022 budget resolution that could be used for passing additional legislation under reconciliation. Mr. Biden released a $6 trillion budget request to Congress Friday.