Senate GOP to give Biden infrastructure counteroffer next week
By Jordain Carney - 05/13/21 04:40 PM EDT
Senate Republicans will give President Biden a revised infrastructure offer next week after a sit-down at the White House on Thursday.
Biden met with a group of 10 Republicans, led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), where they discussed two of the biggest sticking points: what qualifies as infrastructure and how to pay for it.
"He asked that we would come back with another offer, with more granularity to it and more details, and so we agreed to do that," Capito said.
Republicans are planning to give Biden their revised counteroffer early next week, and didn't rule out meeting again with Biden.
"He wanted it pretty quickly," Capito said. "I made it clear this was not a stagnant offer from us, and I didn't want it to be perceived that way."
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said that he also expected Republicans to come back with "more specifics" early next week on "on our idea to pay for things and further the list that we talked about with him."
"We were pretty far down the road," Blunt, a member of GOP leadership, said about Thursday's meeting.
The GOP group unveiled a proposal earlier this year that offered $568 billion for infrastructure — dramatically smaller than Biden's $2.3 trillion jobs plan. Capito, on Thursday, didn't rule out that Republicans would go higher in their next pitch that they give to the White House.
"Maybe some different numbers too," Capito said.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/553439-senate-gop-to-give-biden-infrastructure-counteroffer-next-week
