Biden, Capito speak by phone and agree to talk again Monday

President Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the lead Republican negotiator on infrastructure, spoke by phone on Friday but didn’t announce any significant development or breakthrough in talks that have stretched past the initial deadline of Memorial Day.

Instead, Biden and Capito have plans to speak again on Monday.

The lack of any reported progress is likely to further fuel mounting frustration among some Democratic lawmakers who have dismissed the latest Republican infrastructure offers as not serious.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Capito “conveyed to the president a new offer from her group [of Republican senators] which consisted of an about $50 billion increase in spending across a number of infrastructure programs.”

But Psaki said the latest GOP offer falls well short of what Biden wants.

“The president expressed his gratitude for her effort and goodwill but also indicated that the current offer did not meet his objectives to grow the economy, tackle the climate crisis, and create new jobs,” she said in a readout of the call.

Kelley Moore, a spokeswoman for Capito, also provided a readout of the meeting but made no mention of the details in the new Republican proposal.

“During the call, the two discussed the Republican infrastructure framework and the Biden administration’s proposal. Sen. Capito and President Biden agreed to connect again on Monday,” she said.

Capito’s aide didn’t say how her boss responded to two significant concessions offered by the president in a meeting Wednesday.

The Washington Post reported that the White House has suggested setting a minimum 15 percent tax rate for profitable corporations that pay very little to nothing in taxes and shrinking the size of its proposal closer to $1 trillion.

Some Democrats, notably Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), have expressed frustration over the GOP counteroffers. 

Biden indicated during an hourlong meeting with Capito at the White House Wednesday that he would be willing to accept significant changes to the White House proposal, suggesting a plan of about $1 trillion and financing it through a minimum effective tax rate for corporations instead of raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, thereby unwinding a core provision of former President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday implicitly questioned the rationale for negotiating with Republicans, pointing out that Republicans didn’t make any similar effort when they cut corporate tax rates nearly four years ago.

“Hmm. When the GOP passed legislation to provide a $1 trillion tax break to corporations & the 1 percent without a single Democratic vote, I didn’t hear my Republican colleagues say ‘Wait. It has to be bipartisan.’ Please don’t tell me we can use the same tools to help working people,” Sanders tweeted Friday afternoon.

It has yet to be seen whether Republicans will agree to any tax increases to pay for new infrastructure investment other than charging unspecified user fees.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has said the bipartisan talks need to show “a clear direction” by this coming Monday, when Biden and Capito are next scheduled to talk.

“This week Congress is out of Washington but it’s very much going to be a workweek for us and for the conversations that are ongoing with Congress. By the time that they return, which is June 7, just a week from tomorrow, we need a clear direction,” he said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Updated: 5:33 p.m.