The White House’s 1.7tn infrastructure offer was boycotted by the Republicans

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The White House reduced the size of infrastructure facilities proposed by Joe Biden from $225 million to $170 million on Friday, but the Republicans quickly rejected the counter-proposal, which raised concerns about the possibility of an agreement between the two parties. Suspicion.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the latest proposal of the Biden administration is a “reasonable counter-offer” in the “spirit of seeking common ground.”

But Republicans quickly rejected the proposal, stating that “there are still huge differences between the White House and Senate Republicans in terms of the definition of infrastructure, the scale of proposed expenditures, and how to pay.”

Biden spent decades in the U.S. Senate before serving as Vice President of Barack Obama and campaigning on a record of crossing political channels. He has repeatedly stated that he hopes to get support from both parties. Ambitious infrastructure agenda.

However, Friday’s developments made it increasingly impossible for Biden and the Democrats to reach an agreement with the Republicans. The Republicans proposed a much smaller $568 billion plan last month and rejected the Democratic proposal. Increase tax Let the company and the richest American pay the bill.

Biden administration officials held a conference call with some Republican senators on Friday afternoon.

Spokesperson Shelley Moore CapitoThe West Virginia Republican Senator, who led the Republican Party’s negotiations with the White House, said that the Bush administration’s latest counter-offer is “far beyond the scope of bipartisan support for Congress to pass.”

The spokesperson said: “After two meetings with the White House staff, the distance between the groups is farther than after a meeting with President Biden.” He added that the Senate Republicans will be in the latest counter-offer. “Further review the details” and “continue to participate”. In a dialogue with the government”.

The White House memorandum obtained by the British “Financial Times” detailed the government’s amendments to its original US$225 million proposal, including the cancellation of investment in manufacturing and research and development, and the reduction of proposed funding for broadband investment to US$65 billion.

The memorandum also stated that the president also reduced his proposed additional funding for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects from $159 billion to $120 billion. The Republicans initially proposed an additional $48 billion for such initiatives.

“The proposal shows a willingness to scale down, providing some areas that are important to the president-otherwise they will not join the proposal-while also maintaining a firm future for those areas that are critical to rebuilding our infrastructure and industry.” Saki told reporters at the White House.

Democrats and Republicans have been at odds for weeks on how to pay for Biden’s huge spending proposals.

The White House memorandum stated that the president “did not agree at all to increase the burden on laborers by increasing gasoline taxes and user fees.” Biden “aimed at fulfilling” his “promise” that he would not treat Americans whose income was less than or equal to his income. Raise taxes. $400,000 per year.

The memorandum said: “Large companies are the largest users of our transportation infrastructure.” “Since the 1930s, they have also paid the lowest taxes, which are a percentage of our total economy. Our approach should ensure that companies pay what they deserve. Share.”

Earlier Friday, Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, vowed to block any efforts by the Democrats to raise taxes.

“This will slow the economy to a crawling rate, and I think we have a chance to stop this…. Very good.” He told Fox News. “They may be able to achieve their goals, but I think it will be very difficult, and we will try our best to compete with them.”

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