President Joe Biden may be pushing a liberal wish list of legislative priorities, but he made a personal pitch for cooperation on infrastructure investment and cancer research.
“Investments in jobs and infrastructure, like the ones we’re talking about, have often had bipartisan support in the past,” Biden said Wednesday during his address to a joint session of Congress.
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Biden referenced his meetings with Democrats and Republicans in the White House and applauded GOP senators for proposing a $568 billion counteroffer to his $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan.
“So let’s get to work,” Biden said.
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Republicans have complained Biden’s American Jobs Plan’s top-line cost is too high and its scope is too broad. For example, it proposes $400 billion in funding for caregivers and senior and disabilities services.
A group of Republican senators, led by West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, has offered $66 billion for broadband and $35 billion for drinking water improvements, in addition to $299 billion for roads and bridges, $61 billion for public transit, and $20 billion for rail projects.
Biden was criticized for railroading Republicans during negotiations over his $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending package. He and other White House staff have started this round of talks indicating that they are more open to compromise.
Biden also made “a point of personal privilege” on Wednesday to implore lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle to support cancer research.
“So many of us have to see sons, daughters, and relatives die of cancer. I can think of no more worthy investment. I know nothing that is more bipartisan,” he said.
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Biden’s eldest son, Beau, died in 2015 from brain cancer at the age of 46.
