The White House said Monday that President Joe Biden is awaiting an infrastructure counteroffer from Senate Republicans after a core group of GOP negotiators rejected his latest $1.7 trillion proposal, leaving the fragile talks on a compromise at a standstill before a Memorial Day deadline.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president is “eager to engage" and would welcome more talks with the senators. But she said the Republicans have “a ways more to go” to find common ground. Biden dropped $500 billion from his initial $2.3 trillion offer, and Psaki said the Republicans raised their $568 billion offer by about $50 billion. Republicans have rejected Biden's plan to pay for the road and broadband spending with a corporate tax increase.
“The ball is in the Republicans' court,” Psaki said at the White House briefing.
On Monday, the president will be hosting Alaska’s Republican congressional delegation to the White House for a bill signing ceremony on an unrelated cruise ship tourism measure. That's meant as a signal of potential areas of bipartisanship. The invited lawmakers could be key players in any infrastructure deal.
With a deadline a week away, the White House and Senate Republicans remain far apart after nearly two weeks of closed-door talks between Biden's team and senators. The lack of progress on Biden's effort to strike a bipartisan agreement has Democrats considering whether they should leave Republicans behind and try to pass his top priority on their own.
Psaki insisted no decisions had been made and expected more talks this week. Asked if Biden might move ahead with his infrastructure plans without Republican support, she said, “We're not quite there yet.”
Democrats hold only slim majorities in the House and Senate, and the administration will face other problems trying to find an agreement with sufficient support from within the president's own party for the big spending. Republicans, who risk political fallout from doing nothing on potentially popular proposals, have resisted Biden's approach as excessive. Late Friday, the group led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., rejected Biden's counteroffer and suggested the two sides were moving farther apart.
“We're eager to see their proposal and see what they have to offer,” Psaki said.
The GOP senators have not said if they were preparing another proposal.
Biden's American Jobs Plan is a massive investment in not just roads, bridges and broadband, but also in water systems to remove lead from pipes, veterans hospitals and green energy, including electric vehicle charging stations that Republicans say go too far beyond traditional infrastructure spending.
Republicans offered an initial $568 billion alternative more narrowly focused on roads, bridges, ports and broadband. Last week the GOP senators boosted that offer, but did not disclose the new total.
According to a White House memo obtained by The Associated Press, the administration said the GOP offer bolstered the new spending by $50 billion — from $175 billion to $225 billion — beyond what Congress typically allocates.
The two sides are also at odds over how to pay for any new spending. Biden wants to lift the corporate tax rate, from 21% to 28%. Republicans are staunchly opposed to any tax increases, having lowered the corporate rate from 35% in 2017 under their GOP tax plan.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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