WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – A bipartisan group of senators could be closing in an infrastructure deal days after discussions between the President and the lead GOP Senator on negotiations ended.
West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito told reporters Thursday that she’s rooting for her Republican colleagues to deliver a bipartisan infrastructure deal.
“I’ve shared with them some of my experiences with the White House. I think I opened the door for them,” Capito said Thursday.
On Tuesday, talks between Capito and President Joe Biden ended after the President said the GOP price tag wasn’t high enough.
But Capito is still holding out hope.
“I think a deal is still possible,” Capito said.
On Thursday, a bipartisan group of about 20 senators moved closer to an agreement.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said he’s for a bipartisan solution if it keeps the focus on traditional infrastructure.
“Roads and bridges, locks and dams, this ought to be something that we could come together on,” he said Thursday.
Democrats and Republicans have consistently disagreed on both the size of the plan and how they’ll pay for it. Some Democrats think it may be time to go it alone.
“I don’t think Mitch McConnell intends to offer good will to the President on this,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said.
The Democratic senator predicts her party will move forward without Republican support to ensure all facets of infrastructure are funded.
“From the hard infrastructure like rural broadband to the softer infrastructure like a national paid leave plan and affordable daycare because both are needed for the country to get back to work,” Gillibrand added.
This week House Democrats passed their own infrastructure bill out of committee and plan to bring it to the floor for a vote later this month.
The bipartisan group in the senate still has to negotiate the plan it the White House.
