President Joe Biden on Wednesday is due to sit down with the top four congressional leaders, as the Democratic president ramps up a major push for infrastructure and other domestic spending that has so far failed to gain Republican support.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, both Republicans, will join their Democratic counterparts Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California in the meeting with Biden. It’s the first time Biden will huddle with the leaders as a group since he took office.
The meeting comes as Biden has proposed a $ 2.3 trillion infrastructure PAVE, -3.09% plan and a $ 1.8 trillion package aimed at child care, education and other priorities. Republicans pan the tax hikes Biden has proposed to pay for both packages. But on infrastructure especially, they say they are open to negotiating.
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Last weekend McConnell said he would be open to an infrastructure bill of as much as $ 800 billion. Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, meanwhile, has proposed a $ 568 billion package. Capito and a small group of her fellow Republicans will hold a separate meeting on infrastructure with Biden on Thursday.
The White House says the leaders are scheduled to meet with Biden “to discuss policy areas of mutual agreement.”
Biden on Monday talked up his administration’s handling of the U.S. economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 crisis, and counseled patience after Friday’s weaker-than-expected jobs report.
“I never said — and no serious analyst ever suggested — that climbing out of the deep, deep hole our economy was in would be simple, easy, immediate, or perfectly steady,” the president said at the White House.
Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist at Stifel, said in a note that he believes Republicans are interested in passing a physical infrastructure bill. But, he said, “the gap between the White House and congressional Republicans might be too great to bridge so a party-line vote using reconciliation procedures remains the most likely path forward.”
The so-called reconciliation process allows for passing legislation with a simple majority vote in the Senate. Even if Democrats use the procedure, however, Gardner expects changes due to the party’s razor-thin majorities in both chambers of Congress. He cites what he calls “growing support within Democratic circles for passing the infrastructure plans without raising taxes.”
Biden’s meeting with the congressional leaders comes a week after McConnell said that “100% of my focus is standing up to this administration.” The Kentucky Republican was responding to questions about infighting in the House GOP. Biden has dismissed McConnell’s remarks, saying he was able to “get a lot done” with the Kentuckian during the Obama administration.
The Oval Office meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. Eastern. It comes the same day as a planned vote to remove Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, from her leadership role. Cheney has angered McCarthy, among other GOP lawmakers, with her criticism of former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud and his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
U.S. stock-index futures ES00, -1.91% pointed to further losses for equities Wednesday, as investors took in a reading on inflation a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.81% suffered its biggest one-day fall since late February.