President Joe Biden will” change course” on his enormous infrastructure bill if implementation seems impossible, declared the White House senior advisor, Cedric Richmond. According to the White House official, Biden is looking to crack a deal soon, but if “meaningful negotiations” are taking place, he is willing to wait it out. The President is not going to let inaction be the answer, but if things escalate to the point of no return, he will make amendments, reported Richmond on Sunday.
In a conversation with Dana Bash from CNN, Richmond spoke of how the Biden administration is currently embroiled in making a “bipartisan infrastructure bill that invests in the backbone of the country.” Time and time again, Biden has been heavily criticized for passing a bill worth trillions of dollars, when in fact, the infrastructure bill serves to reshape the current situation of not only the middle class but also the entire state.
The White House has given a weeks’ time to observe the progress made towards a state of bipartisan agreement on infrastructure investment. Although the President has expressed willingness to negotiate terms of his proposal, his advisor’s comments tell a whole different story. Richmond’s recent statements signal that Biden won’t wait much longer to convince Republicans of the importance of the infrastructure bill. If the party doesn’t agree soon, then the chances of Biden proceeding with the bill on his own are high.
On Friday, the infrastructure bill’s price went down from a whopping $2.25 trillion to $1.7 trillion. The revised proposal has put forward four areas the White House considers as concessions to Republicans, who had previously laid a $568 billion proposal on the table. With regard to the cut down on the price, Richmond pointedly declares it as evidence of Biden’s “willingness to negotiate in good faith and in a serious manner.” Biden has put all the efforts he can, said the White House official. The only question that now remains is if the Republicans are able to meet him halfway.
Despite the cut back in the bill’s price, the Republicans have ardently rejected the revised changes, citing the high cost of the infrastructure bill to be “well above the range of what can pass Congress with bipartisan support.” Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, one of the Republicans involved in negotiations with the White House, said the group has nearly a week to reach a unanimous decision on the scope of the bill.
According to Sen. Roy Blunt, the disparities between the Republicans and Democrats over the infrastructure bill are not because of the money – it is actually a matter of defining infrastructure differently. Still, the Republican appeared optimistic in conversation with Fox News Sunday, claiming that the group will be able to figure out a way in the upcoming week.
Biden’s proposal allocates a significant chunk of spending towards broadband, the country’s infrastructure, home care services, amongst a list of other things. The revised offer from the White House released Friday cuts the potential spending on infrastructure by $39 billion and incorporates the Republicans proposed spending on Broadband at $65 billion. Major spending on research, supply chain and manufacturing has also been cut out from the infrastructure bill.
