Bipartisan negotiations between the Biden administration and Senate Republicans, led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), have officially ended without an infrastructure deal. The White House ended talks after negotiators failed to reach an agreement on the size of the legislative package and how to pay for it. In the end, the two sides remained several hundred billion dollars apart.
The President "informed Senator Capito [Tuesday] that the latest offer from her group did not, in his view, meet the essential needs of our country," said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, in a statement.
In her own statement, Capito said, "After negotiating in good faith and making significant progress to move closer to what the President wanted, I am disappointed by his decision."
POLITICO reports Biden has turned his attention to work with the bipartisan group of 20 senators led by Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Known as the G-20, the group is considering its own infrastructure bill as potential backup legislation.
In the House on Tuesday, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus unveiled its own $761.8 billion infrastructure bill. The measure "details bipartisan policy solutions that will improve our highways, roads and bridges, transit and railways, ports and airports, water and sewer systems, energy systems and the power grid, and broadband and communications networks." Among many provisions, the Problem Solvers also encourage "policies that ensure skilled workers and eligible small businesses of all backgrounds, including historically underserved populations, can participate in federally funded infrastructure work."
This article was provided to OSAE by ASAE's Power of A and Inroads.