Fresh skirmishes slow U.S. Senate bipartisan infrastructure talks
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[July 27, 2021]
By Susan Cornwell and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Fresh squabbles
erupted on Monday between Republicans and Democrats negotiating details
of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan sought by President Joe Biden,
casting doubt on how quickly the U.S. Senate could try again to begin
formal debate.
The chamber's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said that the Senate may work
through the coming weekend and into its scheduled August recess if
needed to craft a deal.
"We have reached a critical moment," Schumer said. "The bipartisan group
of senators has had nearly five weeks of negotiations since they first
announced an agreement with President Biden. It's time for everyone to
get to 'yes' and produce an outcome for the American people."
The leading Republican negotiator, Senator Rob Portman, was working on
some outstanding issues, including funds for mass transit, with White
House counselor Steve Ricchetti, senators from both parties said Monday
evening after a bipartisan meeting in the Capitol.
Republicans and Democrats had worked over the weekend to try to finish
the deal so that Schumer could try again as early as Monday to start the
floor debate in the chamber narrowly controlled by Biden's fellow
Democrats. Republicans blocked https://www.reuters.com/world/us/work-in-progress-us-infrastructure-bill-faces-test-senate-floor-2021-07-21
Schumer's effort to begin floor action last week, saying they lacked the
details of the proposal.
However, the negotiators failed to finalize the agreement by Monday amid
skirmishing over details. Democrats and the White House made an offer on
Sunday night, but the office of one of the leading Republican
negotiators, Senator Mitt Romney, reacted in unusually irate tones to a
Democratic source's statement that Romney had reneged on a deal on water
infrastructure project funding.
"This is laughably false," Romney's office said in a statement. "As the
White House's own website shows, the deal on water was for $55 billion
in new spending. After days of radio silence, Schumer now wants $70
billion. This is a direct violation of the bipartisan agreement."
Later Monday, however, Romney told reporters that he still believed an
agreement could be finalized.
"We've come to some conclusion on many of those things, and I believe
that between the White House and Rob Portman we'll be able to reach
agreement," Romney said.
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Construction workers are seen at the site of a large public
infrastructure reconstruction project of an elevated roadway and
bridges in upper Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., April
22, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Segar
At the White House Monday, Biden told reporters, "I'm
always optimistic" about the bipartisan infrastructure framework.
The framework the senators and Biden announced a month ago, with
$1.2 trillion in funding over five years, includes about $579
billion in new spending on roads, bridges, broadband and other
public works projects intended to help revamp America's aging
infrastructure.
Biden has called the plan essential. He also wants it to be followed
by a much larger $3.5 trillion budget framework that would allow for
spending on some of his other priorities, including climate measures
and social spending. Republicans have said they will not support the
larger measure.
Moderate Democrat Joe Manchin, another member of the bipartisan
negotiating group, said the two measures depended on each other. “I
would say that if the bipartisan infrastructure bill falls apart,
everything could fall apart," he said.
The offer that Democrats sent on Sunday shows that the sides remain
divided on a number of issues, including transit funding. A document
seen by Reuters shows Democrats offered to reduce transit spending
authorization to $69.9 billion over five years down from previous
offer of $73.9 billion.
The document also shows continuing partisan disagreement about
whether to include a provision to lift workers' wages in
various parts of the bill, and debate over how to allocate $7.5
billion for cleaner school buses and ferries as well as $65 billion
for broadband internet.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and David Shepardson; Additional
reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott
Malone, Will Dunham, Jonathan Oatis, Bernadette Baum and Aurora
Ellis)
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