President Joe Biden and a group of Republican senators led by West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito are no longer negotiating on a possible infrastructure package, though Biden is still aiming to reach a deal on the issue with a different group that includes GOP senators.
Capito said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon that Biden had ended the discussions, adding that he understood that one of her side’s red lines had been not undoing 2017’s tax cuts but he had “continued to respond with offers that included tax increases as his pay for.”
The White House, for its part, said in a statement that Biden “informed Senator Capito today that the latest offer from her group did not, in his view, meet the essential needs of our country.”
The president also spoke on Tuesday about infrastructure
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with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and he plans to be in contact with members of their bipartisan group by phone during his trip to Europe that starts Wednesday, according to the White House.
Now read: Biden wants massive infrastructure package approved this summer
And see: White House says no deadline Monday on infrastructure plan as more talks with Republicans planned
