A call penciled in for Monday between President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans’ lead negotiator on an infrastructure bill has not yet been scheduled, even as both sides say time is running out for a deal.
The White House and the office of that GOP senator, West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito, said Friday afternoon the duo intended to speak again Monday after a telephone conversation on Friday that did not produce any tangible steps toward a deal.
“The time is not unlimited here,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday.
Though what would be the third Biden-Capito call since last Wednesday has not yet been locked in, it will happen before the president departs early Wednesday morning for a five-day trip to the United Kingdom and Europe to meet with several world leaders, Psaki said.
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The White House initially pushed for a bill that would overhaul the country’s aging roads, airports, bridges, tunnels, and sea ports, along with other things such as federal help with child care, that crested the $2 trillion mark. Republicans’ first offer was around $600 billion.
The two sides, during methodical negotiations that have featured numerous counteroffers, have moved toward the mathematical middle point.
“Look, the president has come down by approximately $1 trillion,” Psaki said, adding: “We’ll see what happens” when the two speak again.
On the one hand, the Capito-led talks have no hard deadline. On the other, White House officials, including Biden himself, have said they must wrap up soon.
Time is not limited, “nor is the president’s willingness to compromise,” Psaki said before again, saying there are multiple other paths to get a bill to the president’s desk.
She said several times last week that other paths could include entering into talks with other Senate Republicans but did not name any.
Another option is to ditch bipartisan talks and give up on trying to pass a bill with any GOP votes in either chamber. A fast-track rule that allows some legislation to pass the upper chamber with just 51 votes, not 60, would allow Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to move back to the White House’s preferred $2 trillion package.
The most liberal members of Biden’s party are pressing for just that. But using the “reconciliation” rule would bring the ire of Republicans and likely make deal-making on other major legislation almost impossible.
On Friday, Psaki told the Washington Examiner it is possible Biden is on the phone during his first foreign trip, negotiating with Capito or other Republicans from the U.K., Brussels, or Switzerland in between his many meetings.
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“We’re very interested,” Psaki said, “in where the conversation goes from here.”
