Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:30 pm
The White House offered to drop the price tag on the infrastructure bill to $1.7 trillion, but they didn’t offer any major concessions.
But Republicans did not appear immediately swayed by the White House’s new spending target, according to two people familiar with the meeting who requested anonymity to describe a private conversation. One of the sources said the decrease is not as steep as it appears, reflecting efforts by the Biden administration to just shift spending to other legislative packages.
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The White House also did not propose any changes to some of the more controversial elements of its infrastructure package, Psaki signaled at her daily news media briefing, including its plan to finance it through tax increases. GOP lawmakers have described Biden’s effort to raise rates on U.S. companies as a nonstarter.
The White House lowered the price tag by moving some of the elements of the infrastructure bill to other pieces of legislation.
In other words, Biden didn’t budge.
President Biden knows that he has the ability to pass a large infrastructure and jobs bill without any Republican votes. It would be nice if Republicans would join the rest of the country, but the President doesn’t need them to do so.
Biden isn’t getting suckered into pointless negotiations that go nowhere. He knows what he wants to do. He has clear priorities, and while he is willing to negotiate with Republicans on the details, he isn’t going to settle for a bad deal in the name of bipartisanship.
President Biden isn’t bending and it is causing Republicans to break.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
