But turning that short outline into detailed legislative text has proven to be enormously difficult, with the two sides still squabbling over funding levels for transit systems and exactly how to pay for the nearly $600 billion in new spending — among a handful of other thorny issues.
Democratic negotiators, including the White House, sent Republicans on Sunday night a “global offer to finish every major open item,” a Democratic source close to the talks told CNN. The offer included the major unresolved issues, including funding for highways and bridges, money for water systems, prevailing wage laws, using unspent Covid-19 money as a way to finance the bill as well as an infrastructure bank and transit funding.
But Republicans pushed back against the effort. A GOP source familiar told CNN on Monday that the offer “was discouraging since it attempts to reopen numerous issues the bipartisan group had already agreed to.”
The source warned, “If this is going to be successful, the White House will need to show more flexibility as Republicans have done and listen to the members of the group that produced this framework.”
Republicans “made very reasonable, good-faith offers every step of the way during this process, including on transit Wednesday,” the source said, adding, “That offer was met with silence for three days.”
Now a blame game is underway, another indication that negotiations are in danger of falling apart.
A Democratic source close to the talks said that Republicans are “goalpost moving,” arguing, for instance, that Republicans “reneged” on an agreement the group had on how to deal with funding for water systems and an additional $15 billion for lead pipe contamination issues. GOP Sen. Mitt Romney proposed something “completely unworkable,” the Democratic source said.
The same Democratic source says that Democrats said they would meet the GOP proposal on highway funding as long as Republicans agreed to their party’s proposal on transit. The GOP said no to that idea as well.
Romney’s office responded on Monday by calling accusations of goalpost moving and reneging on an agreement “laughably false.”
“As the White House’s own website shows, the deal on water was for $55 billion in new spending,” Romney’s office said in a statement. “After days of radio silence, (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer now wants $70 billion. This is a direct violation of the bipartisan agreement.”
The much-deliberated bipartisan plan is entering a critical week on Capitol Hill, and some lawmakers had projected optimism ahead of a possible procedural vote this week, potentially on Monday. But with no resolution reached yet, negotiators face a steep uphill climb to resolve remaining issues after a weekend of talks failed to produce an agreement.
The 10 main negotiators are planning to meet Monday to put deliberations back on track. “We’re down to the last couple of items, and I think you are going to see a bill Monday afternoon,” Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, one of the negotiators working on the bipartisan deal, told Fox News Sunday.
Sticking points loom large
A group of 22 Democratic and Republican senators said afterward that they were “close to a final agreement” and were “optimistic that we will finalize, and be prepared to advance, this historic bipartisan proposal to strengthen America’s infrastructure and create good-paying jobs in the coming days.”
But the days since have brought more scrutiny from lawmakers outside the group of negotiators, including Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, who warned Sunday against treating federal funding as “Monopoly money.”
“Now we’re talking about another $600 billion on top of the ordinary spending. … This is completely out of hand. There are people who think this is Monopoly money, but it’s not, Jake. And so I’m concerned. I think the way we should pay for this increase in infrastructure spending is by re-purposing money we already approved, but hasn’t yet gone out the door.”
Lawmakers insist a bill is within reach
Despite the plodding negotiations, lawmakers from both parties signaled Sunday that a deal is close at hand.
“I feel good about getting it done this week,” the Ohio Republican said.
“We’re in the final strokes, we’re in the final days. We’re optimistic, we are all engaging daily, multiple times a day with members of the Senate, and we’re feeling really good about it,” she said.
The Democratic bill, which they hope to pass through a budget process known a reconciliation, is expected to set the stage for Democrats to pass measures like expanding the child tax credit, offering paid medical and family leave and potentially even overhauling the country’s immigration system. The bill is also expected to include changes to the US tax code.
“So I’m enthusiastic about the fact that they will have a bipartisan bill. I hope that it will be soon. But yes, I stand by, because the fact is, is that the President has said that he wants to have a bipartisan bill, and we all do,” she continued. “But that is not the limitation of the vision of the President. He wants to build back better. He wants to do so in a way that, again, involves many more people in the prosperity of our country.”
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Monday.
CNN’s Paul LeBlanc, Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby contributed to this report.
Source : CNN