PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN’s infrastructure plan is not attracting much support from Republicans. Above, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (Flickr/Thomas Hawk).

Bipartisanship is proving to be difficult as President Joe Biden and Republican Senate leaders wrangle over a proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.

After a meeting Friday with White House staff, the two sides don’t appear to have made much progress on agreement on Biden’s “American Jobs Plan.”  Democrats offered to cut the proposal – which had already passed the House of Representatives, where Democrats are in the majority – to $1.7 trillion, according to USA Today.

Biden’s original plan was for not only rebuilding and improving bridges, roads, airports and broadband internet access, but also funding for electric vehicles, home caregiving and other “human infrastructure.”
Republicans have proposed their own $568 billion alternative plan, according to the Associated Press.

“This proposal exhibits a willingness to come down in size,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. But Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) said the two sides “seem further apart” then when talks began.

The Democrats can pass the bill without Republican support. Each party holds 50 seats, but Vice President Kamala Harris could cast the deciding vote in favor. Biden, however, long an advocate of bipartisan government, wanted some Republican backing for this bill.

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