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GOP senators unveil $928 billion infrastructure counteroffer

27 May 2021
Dan Ackermann

A group of Senate Republicans on Thursday released the framework for their latest counterproposal to President Biden's infrastructure plan, raising their offer from $568 billion to $928 billion.

Why it matters: The White House has indicated that Memorial Day is the soft deadline for bipartisan negotiations. Biden had previously lowered the size of his infrastructure proposal from $2.3 trillion to $1.7 trillion.

  • While hopes for a bipartisan deal were high, some Democrats are eager for Biden to abandon the effort to win over Republicans and use the budget reconciliation process, which would only require 50 votes in the Senate.
  • However, this could risk losing support from more moderate Democrats who want Republicans on board with the infrastructure plan.

What they're saying: “We believe that this counteroffer delivers on what President Biden told us in the Oval Office that day. And that is to try to reach somewhere near $1 trillion over an eight-year period of time," Sen. Shelley Moore (R-W.Va.), who has been leading negotiations on behalf of Republicans, said at a press conference.

By the numbers:

  • $506 billion for roads and bridges.
  • $98 billion for public transit.
  • $46 billion for passenger and freight rail.
  • $21 billion for safety.
  • $22 billion for ports and waterways.
  • $56 billion for airports.
  • $22 billion for water storage.
  • $72 billion for water infrastructure.
  • $65 billion for broadband infrastructure.
  • $20 billion for infrastructure financing.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.