To reduce the resources earmarked for the original plan, from $ 2.3 billion , Joe Biden’s aides removed funding for rural broadband, bridges and highways
Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images
Friday, November 1
The White House slashed the infrastructure plan to $ 1.7 trillion to convince Republicans to vote for it
The government assistants of Joe Biden working on a bipartisan infrastructure deal made a counter offer to Republican senators on Friday, reducing the initial Biden Administration proposal by $ 600 billion dollars.
This latest offer would cost $ 1.7 billion for a decade, according to a memorandum from the White House addressed to the Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito , from West Virginia, who heads negotiations by the Republican Party.
An aide to Moore Capito responded to the offer in a statement on Friday, calling the proposal the White House as “very above the range of what Congress can pass with bipartisan support. Based on today’s meeting, the groups seem further apart after two meetings with staff from the White House that after a meeting with President Biden, ”said the attendee, as reported by CNBC.
The White House agreed to change several investments in this infrastructure plan cut of $ 1.7 billion to gain the support of the Republican opposition.
The secretary press release of the White House , Jen Psaki announced this counter offer from the government of President Joe Biden at a press conference and said that with her we seek to achieve a consensus to get adel given the ambitious proposed infrastructure plan.
Biden agrees to the cut of the infrastructure plan initially planned but also, assured Psaki, remains “firm” in its commitment to invest in areas that it considers “vital” for the reconstruction of infrastructure and key industries for the future and to make the country more productive and “more competitive with China.”
He explained that the proposal reduces funds in some traditional infrastructures -such as roads, bridges and other projects- to get closer to the figures requested by the Republicans.
The government is also willing to change the destination of some investments for research and development in the manufacturing industry and small companies, to focus on two legislative proposals already on the table relating to training in ma technological science, such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
But the White House also clarified what it does not agree to compromise in this infrastructure plan cut .
For example, the White House has not yet fallen below $ 400 $ 1 billion Biden proposed to fund home and community care for the elderly. Republicans argue that this does not meet the definition of “infrastructure.”
Biden’s offer also stands in line on the funding he has proposed for electric vehicles, veterans hospitals and workforce training, all of which Republicans have questioned.
Psaki assured that all the changes that the White House seek to find those points in common that allow the approval of the plan.
Republicans have proposed their own infrastructure bill of $ 568 billion dollars , with a limited focus on hard infrastructure, rural broadband and transit.
The counter offer from the Democratic administration represents a reduction of half a trillion dollars It is in the ambitious plan with which Biden intends to transform the country’s infrastructure, and that the president wants to finance with the increase in taxes on large companies.
An increase that in the initial plan proposes to raise the corporate tax of the to the 28%, as well as limiting tax evasion maneuvers .
With information from EFE and CNBC
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