Republican senators emerged from a meeting with President Joe Biden expressing some optimism on the prospects there could be a bipartisan deal on infrastructure.
Republicans have resisted Biden's plan for $2.25 trillion for "infrastructure," arguing the package proposed by the White House is not just limited to infrastructure.
Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va., has emerged as the "point person" on the matter for Republicans having publicly called for Biden to listen to Republicans on the situation even when members of his own party are urging the president to go it alone and let the party use the budget reconciliation tool to get it done.
Under budget reconciliation, it removes the requirement a package get 60 votes in the Senate in order to pass. Given the 50-50 margin in the chamber, it is an understandable push.
A bipartisan counter-offer to Biden of $568 billion in infrastructure spending -- a package compiled by not just Republicans -- was rejected out of hand by most Democrats.
But Biden agreed to meet with the lawmakers to see if and what kind of a deal could be reached with Republicans. And he has done so with some in his party warning they won't sit by and let Republicans negotiate and negotiate on the topic. Some Democrats believe Republicans would deploy that tactic only in the end to say no deal could be had.
But Republicans were not disheartened after their session with Biden at the White House. "We think this infrastructure package can carry forward," Capito said. "The president has asked us to come back and re-work an offer so that he can then react to that, and then re-offer to us."
Biden himself was positive coming out of the session. "We had a very, very good meeting," he told reporters in the Rose Garden, according to Bloomberg. "It was great to be back with so many of the colleagues that I had served with in the Senate. And I am very optimistic that we can reach a reasonable agreement. But even if we don't, it's been a good faith effort that we started."
But the road ahead remains a rocky one potentially, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., emerging from a Wednesday session with Biden as saying the GOP has a "red line" on the Biden proposal to use an increase in corporate taxes as one of the ways to pay for the infrastructure deal. Even moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has expressed resistance to the 28% corporate tax rate proposed by Biden.
Manchin has favored a tax rate no higher than 25% on companies and Biden recently said he was open to a discussion on that tax level.
And there are signs, Bloomberg said, that Biden may be willing to break the package up. "There are increasing signs the bill would be split up if a bipartisan agreement on some infrastructure measures did emerge," Bloomberg said. "That would leave Biden to try to advance some or all of the rest of his proposal without Republican support."
But what appears more and more likely is that to get bipartisan support for an infrastructure plan, there may need to be a refocusing of the effort on the traditional definition of infrastructure -- roads, bridges, railroads, locks and dams and the like.
The crack that appeared in one of the supports on a key bridge on I-40 that crosses the Mississippi River could become a factor in the debate. While the bridge has been closed indefinitely, it means there will be automobile and truck traffic that get diverted to other routes to cross the river. But the other key is that the Mississippi River has also been closed to barge traffic, right at a time when U.S. ag products are being moved to export locations.
So we will see. Infrastructure has long had an air of bipartisanship to it. And there are signs that could be the case this time around. Given the importance for agriculture of infrastructure to get their products to market and export channels, this situation needs to be watched closely, Washington Insider believes.