President Joe Biden is refusing to drop his demand that Republicans agree to a corporate tax hike in any bipartisan infrastructure deal, signaling to the top GOP negotiator he is poised to end their talks.
West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito met one-on-one with Biden at the White House on Wednesday, but both sides merely issued tepid statements after they failed to reach an agreement. They are slated to speak again Friday, but there were no signs, even after a new White House counteroffer, that the president and senator are any closer to a deal.
Asked if the president might drop his demand that the corporate tax rate be hiked from 21% to 28% in favor of his offer of a baseline 15% corporate rate, press secretary Jen Psaki replied: “No.”
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“He believes we should look to continue raising the corporate rate,” she told reporters. “He continues to believe that corporations can pay more.”
But, in subtle phrases, Psaki indicated her boss believes Republicans have done too little to offer a package Biden and Senate Democrats would accept.
At one point, she said Washington negotiations are about “how close one side can come to the other” rather than them meeting in the middle. She then noted the president wants things included that “are personally important to him,” including new hospitals for military veterans and investments in electric automobiles.
She also said, “Part of negotiating is coming up in numbers.” Biden has pressed Capito and other Senate Republicans to offer a larger overall package, and more of the new spending he favors.
The White House recently sent GOP senators a trimmed-down version of its initial $2.25 trillion plan, a counteroffer with a $1.7 trillion price tag. Republicans responded with a $925 billion counteroffer of their own.
GOP senators continue to blanch at both Biden’s broad definition of what constitutes infrastructure and his insistence on billions in new spending — and the corporate rate hike he wants to pay for it.
Republicans’ latest counter reflects how far apart the sides remain, as it focuses mostly on roads, bridges, and public transit — all long-considered infrastructure by members of both parties.
In a shift on Thursday, Psaki floated the idea that the president could soon end his negotiations with Capito and seek new dance partners on infrastructure.
She spoke about White House officials seeing “a number of paths forward,” including “a number of Republicans and Democrats have discussed working together.”
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Though the president believes Capito has negotiated in “good faith,” Psaki said, “we’re also going to keep our options open.”
