WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has publicly begun courting Republicans for his comprehensive infrastructure plan, but its reach across the aisle is just as much meant to keep Democrats in line, as it’s a first step in an uphill climb to any two-party agreement.
Biden’s sensational Oval Office meeting with a group of two-party lawmakers Monday was just one of his efforts to win GOP lawmakers, White House staffers said. But even if it does not succeed, it can be helpful – to box in Republicans, while helping to keep the widely differing Democrats in line. Some Moderate Democrats, especially Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, has made an effort to be twofold to pass the $ 2.3 billion bill.
And while Biden has made it clear that he wants Republican support, the White House is also preparing to do so alone, if necessary, to pass the bill. This would leave the IDP in the politically unpopular position of explaining why it objects to investments that many Americans want.
“I am prepared to negotiate the scope of my infrastructure project, as well as how we pay for it,” Biden said during the meeting with lawmakers. “Everyone recognizes that we need a significant increase in infrastructure.”
Biden rejects the idea that his outreach to Republicans is just for the show, saying, “I’m not big on window covering like you saw.”
In fact, lawmakers left the White House meeting with the understanding that Biden is open for discussion, and the president’s team went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with them or other representatives.
“These are all the exact words I wanted to hear after the meeting,” the Republican Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And it was really encouraging.”
Senator Alex Padilla, D-California, presents: “No one storms out and shouts ‘no’.”
The outreach of the White House was very important, while members of the cabinet and allies met with lawmakers and activists as they campaigned across the country to sell the plan directly to voters. Officials said Biden will hold more bipartisan meetings this month and that top administration officials are planning with congressional committees this week.
But most Republicans have made it clear that they have little interest in joining the effort for now and reject the idea of raising the corporate tax rate to pay for it. And they downplayed the proposal as a major expense, preferring to leave Biden to pursue its own priority legislation.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Republicans have no appetite for dismantling GOP tax legislation to pay for it.
“We need to have a large infrastructure bill as large as we are willing to pay credibly, without going back and undoing the 2017 tax bill,” McConnell said at his weekly press conference.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the leading Republican in the Trade Commission, who was at the meeting Monday, then said that “there are clearly parts of this program that are not starting for Republicans.”
Undo the 2017 IDP tax rebates “That would be an almost impossible sale,” Wicker told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Wicker said he told Biden this only during the meeting and characterized the president’s response: “Well, he does not agree.”
However, the White House has expressed confidence that voters will not sympathize with companies’ objections to tax rates being raised from 21% to 28%, at the expense of publicly funded funding for highways, metros, water pipes, broadband internet and more. .
Cedric Richmond, the director of public involvement in the White House, said the outreach to lawmakers and business leaders has benefited from Biden being seen as an honest broker. Richmond also stressed to the companies that the 21% rate set by President Donald Trump’s tax cut in 2017 was above and beyond what they were asking for.
“No business in six years has ever mentioned 21%,” Richmond said. ‘What I remind them is that we would bring the tariff back to the area they wanted in the first place. And at the same time, we can fix infrastructure. ”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki made it clear on Tuesday that the gas tax increase was not being considered.
Congress has launched the long battle of legislation, with several ways to bring the package to the vote.
Democrats hold the narrowest majority in Congress – a margin of three votes in the House and an evenly divided 50-50 Senate – leaving no room for error as Biden tries to keep the party in line. The party’s vice-president, Kamala Harris, can deliver a break-even vote in the Senate.
House President Nancy Pelosi set a goal for action on July 4, but even that seems politically ambitious in light of the challenging challenges ahead. And for every step the White House takes to win centralists, including Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, they run the risk of losing liberals like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., who wants an even bigger package to meet the country’s needs.
One option the Democrats are considering is the budget reconciliation process, which allows for a majority of 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the 60 votes usually needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.
In particular, Manchin expressed some joy over the use of reconciliation without an attempt at bipartisanity. He and others opposed attempts to change the filibuster rules, but West Wing aides believe he would be inclined to support reconciliation if he saw Republicans attempt a two-way brickwork.
“This is another moment to show that Republicans want to hamper the entire Biden agenda,” said Dan Pfeiffer, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. “And the American people want to see you try to be a two-party, but not at the expense of things you support.”
Referring to his four decades in Washington, Biden pursued himself as a two-party trader. But Republicans have so far uniformly rejected his efforts. No GOP legislator has voted for the $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 relief bill that Biden entered into law last month despite polls suggesting the measure was popular with Republican voters.
Psaki said Biden’s outreach was sincere: ‘You do not use the President of the United States more than a few times, including two infrastructure meetings, if he does not want to hear authentically from the members who want to attend how to proceed. this package in a dual way. ‘
The West Wing also pointed to polls suggesting a two-party appetite among voters for spending on infrastructure, and Biden plans to launch a second part, focused on health and family care, in the coming weeks. The White House has telegraphed that much more of this package is open to negotiation than was the case with the COVID-19 bill, but it also showed a deadline for the Memorial Day to progress.
“Democrats have made a proactive effort to make it difficult for Republicans to stand up and cut a ribbon on a transportation project in their district if they do not vote for it,” said Kevin Madden, senior adviser to the Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, said. . “This is their attempt to put Republicans under pressure. Can Republicans now as a party maintain the same level of unity to oppose it? ”
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Lemire reports from New York. Associated Press authors Josh Boak and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.