Washington Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said he and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy had told President Biden during their Tuesday afternoon meeting that changing the Trump-era tax law by raising taxes was a “red line” when it comes to the president Infrastructure proposal.
“We’re not interested in reopening the 2017 tax laws. We both made that clear to the president. It’s a red line,” McConnell told reporters after meeting with Mr Biden, McCarthy, House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi and the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The White House said the president “enjoyed hosting Spokesman Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell and Leader McCarthy, and spent nearly two hours working with them to identify areas where they could work together, in particular.” In terms of infrastructure, which the leaders agreed on, there was a need for investment. “
The meeting, Mr. Biden’s first meeting with senior congressional leaders since his inauguration, took place as negotiations on the president’s infrastructure agenda resumed, and two hours after House Republicans passed Representative Liz Cheney Had dropped voting from the leadership. Speaking to reporters at the White House after meeting, McCarthy claimed no one is still trying to litigate the 2020 presidential election, even though the ex-president continued to claim they had been rigged.
“I don’t think anyone is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. That is all over,” said McCarthy.
McCarthy backed away and pushed her out. At the beginning of the meeting, Mr Biden said he was happy to see the leaders to see if they could “reach consensus” on the infrastructure. When asked by a reporter if he could trust and work with McCarthy after the GOP leader did something to Cheney, the president appeared to chuckle and answer “yes”.
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The meeting with was to focus on Mr. Biden’s two-pronged $ 4 trillion plan, which was between a $ 2.3 trillion proposal for physical infrastructure and jobs and an action of $ 1.8 trillion – Dollar is split up for health care, education and child care.
“The bottom line is we’ll see if we can reach a consensus on a compromise. We’ll talk a lot about infrastructure,” the president said at the beginning of the meeting, before the reporters were escorted from the room.
The meeting started just after 11 a.m. and ended around 12:45 p.m.
Republicans have opposed Mr Biden’s proposal, questioning both the price and the inclusion of provisions that appear to have nothing to do with “traditional” infrastructure such as roads, bridges, transport and broadband rollout. They also oppose Mr Biden’s plan to pay for his infrastructure package, which would include increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and negotiating a new global minimum tax for multinational corporations.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin raised the corporate tax rate to 25%, but it’s unclear whether that would get enough Republican support.
A group of Republican Senators hired a Counteroffer of $ 568 billion last month led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito. The GOP proposal includes $ 299 billion for roads and bridges, $ 65 billion for broadband expansion, $ 61 billion for public transportation systems and $ 20 billion for railways, as well as funding for ports, airports and modernization the country’s water infrastructure.
Capito said Friday that the $ 568 billion plan “is not our final offer”. McConnell too said monday that he would be willing to consider a package of between $ 600 billion and $ 800 billion, which signals a degree of openness to negotiation between Republicans.
Mr Biden has met a number of lawmakers from both parties in the past few days. On Thursday, he will meet with a group of Republicans who helped formulate the Republican counteroffer, including Capito and Senators John Barrasso, Roy Blunt, Mike Crapo and Roger Wicker. But Senator John Thune, the Republican Whip, told reporters Tuesday that simply meeting with GOP lawmakers was not enough.
“I would like to see the president sit down and express more than a willingness to listen, but a willingness to take action to work bipartisan and try to get a deal,” Thune said.