U.S. Senate Republican sees short window for infrastructure deal
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[May 24, 2021]
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senate
Republicans and the White House could have as little as a week to 10
days to overcome their differences on infrastructure and strike a deal
to revitalize America's roads and bridges, a top Republican said on
Sunday.
Senator Roy Blunt, who is among a group of Republicans negotiating with
the Biden administration, said the two sides are still far apart on how
to define infrastructure, which President Joe Biden views as a
wide-ranging topic that includes climate change and social issues such
as elder care, as well as roads and bridges.
"I do think we've got about a week or 10 days to decide if we can work
together on this or not," Blunt said in an interview on the television
program "Fox News Sunday."
Blunt gave no reason for his prediction. Some Democrats have suggested
Biden could give Republicans until the end of May to agree on
legislation. The Senate is also scheduled to depart for its Memorial Day
holiday break at the end of this week.
On Friday, the White House pared down Biden's initial $2.25 trillion
infrastructure proposal to $1.7 trillion in a bid to move closer to a
deal with Republicans. Senate Republicans, including Blunt, dismissed
the gesture as insufficient.
Some Republicans believe the success of current infrastructure
negotiations could determine how much bipartisan scope there is for
other White House priorities.
"This is the test. This will determine whether or not we can work
together in a bipartisan way on an important issue," Republican Senator
Susan Collins, a leading advocate of bipartisanship, told ABC's program
This Week.
Biden's sweeping proposal includes traditional infrastructure projects
but also seeks to rechart the direction of the U.S. economy with its
focus on climate change and social programs.
Republicans have rejected Biden's plan and instead called for an
approach limited to roads, bridges, airports, waterways and broadband
access. They unveiled an initial proposal costing $568 billion.
'STILL PRETTY FAR APART'
Despite Biden's stated interest in bipartisanship, Democrats and White
House officials say the president could decide to move forward without
Republican support, if Republican lawmakers are unable to agree on a
bipartisan plan.
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U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) faces reporters after the Senate
Republican lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 18, 2021.
REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
"He will not let inaction be the answer and when it gets to a point
where it looks like that is inevitable, you'll see him change
course," Cedric Richmond, director of the White House Office of
Public Engagement, told CNN's State of the Union program on Sunday.
"But for now, we're engaged in what we want to be a bipartisan
infrastructure bill that invests in the backbone of this country,
the middle class, and our future," he added.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats,
told CBS' Face the Nation program: "If they're not coming forward,
we've got to go forward alone."
Collins said the White House's move to pare back the Biden proposal
simply moves some of the original spending into separate legislation
now on the Senate floor.
"So I think we're still pretty far apart," said the Maine
Republican.
Collins and other Republicans have pointed to the mammoth size of
the Biden plan as a reason for their opposition, saying the spending
raises concerns about the deficit and federal debt. Republicans also
reject Biden's plan to pay for infrastructure by raising taxes on
U.S. corporations.
Blunt said spending is not the biggest difference facing negotiators
now.
"Our biggest gap is defining what infrastructure is," he said. "If
we get to a definition of infrastructure that the country would have
always accepted, that becomes a much narrower space than it appears
to be right now," he said.
(Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw;
Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Bill Berkrot)
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