Biden, Capito Discuss Revised Infrastructure Proposal

After the call concluded, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Capito said the senator and the president discussed the parties’ proposals and agreed to speak again on Monday.

Asked earlier in the day about the planned discussion, Mr. Biden told reporters, “I’m going to be having a talk this afternoon and I’ll be able to report to you after that.” He didn’t say whether he expected to receive a counteroffer from Mrs. Capito, which Republicans have said could come Friday.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Mr. Biden would also speak on Friday afternoon with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D., Ore.), adding that the president is open to meeting with other lawmakers of both parties working on infrastructure proposals.

Mr. Biden is facing pressure from members of his own party as the negotiations drag on, with moderates urging him to find compromise with Republicans and progressives pushing him to use a budgetary maneuver to pass legislation without GOP support.

Some liberal House Democrats said they were concerned that Mr. Biden is making concessions they view as too large.

“If what we’ve read is true, I would have a very difficult time voting yes on this bill—$2 trillion was already the compromise,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) said Thursday. “President Biden can’t expect us to vote for an infrastructure deal dictated by the Republican Party.”

But centrists, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), have pressed Mr. Biden to continue efforts to strike a bipartisan deal and signaled reluctance to move forward without GOP support.

“I don’t think we should. I really don’t,” Mr. Manchin told NBC News on Thursday. “We need to be bipartisan.”

During a Wednesday meeting at the White House with Mrs. Capito, Mr. Biden said he wants $1 trillion in new spending in the package, down from his previous offer of $1.7 trillion. He also proposed several options for paying for the spending that wouldn’t boost the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, as he previously proposed. Republicans have called any effort to boost the corporate tax rate or unwind the Republicans’ 2017 tax law a nonstarter.

Among the options Mr. Biden outlined: a minimum corporate tax of 15% for the nation’s largest companies and the repurposing of some Covid-19 aid funding approved during the Trump administration.

Friday’s conversation between Mrs. Capito and Mr. Biden will be the latest test of whether the two sides can find common ground. Mr. Biden’s proposals were met with skepticism from some GOP aides. Republicans indicated that many of Mr. Biden’s suggestions still amounted to tax increases they would oppose.

Mrs. Capito and the group of Senate Republicans who are involved in the negotiations unveiled a plan last week to spend $928 billion over eight years to update roads, bridges, rail and transit systems. That offer is an increase from the GOP’s original five-year $568 billion proposal, but only about $257 billion of their latest proposal is above baseline levels, according to the Republicans.

On Friday morning, Mr. DeFazio introduced a five-year, $547 billion highway reauthorization bill which the House committee will debate next week. The legislation includes $343 billion for roads, bridges and safety improvements, $109 billion for transit investments and $95 billion for passenger and freight rail projects.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously advanced a $304 billion reauthorization bill earlier, legislation that lawmakers see as a possible component of a broader infrastructure deal.

Write to Andrew Restuccia at [email protected] and Kristina Peterson at [email protected]