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.
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