(WASHINGTON) — Infrastructure negotiations between President Joe Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., have ended.
“We had a robust package that we could’ve made work and I think I could’ve gotten 20-25 Republicans to go with me,” Capito told ABC News Tuesday afternoon. “They moved the goal posts on me a couple of times and they just decided to walk away.”
Asked what’s next, she said, “You’ll have to ask him.”
An administration source said, that with the White Housemoving on from negotiations with Republicans, the president will now turn his focus to engaging with a bipartisan group of senators to find a deal on infrastructure — a group they welcome Capito to join.
Despite the breakdown in negotiations, the source said the president is walking away from the discussion the way he entered it — believing it was done in a good-faith effort to find an agreement.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Capito said she was disappointed by the decision, but pointed to other bipartisan paths forward, including a bipartisan surface transportation bill which passed unanimously out of committee.
“While I appreciate President Biden’s willingness to devote so much time and effort to these negotiations, he ultimately chose not to accept the very robust and targeted infrastructure package, and instead, end our discussions,” Capito said in the statement.
The back and forth over infrastructure has gone on for weeks now, with top-line figures for both parties eking gradually toward one another.
The sizable cost difference between the two sides was due in part to fundamental disagreements about the scope of the bill. Republicans have argued that things like child care, home care, work training and other “human infrastructure” elements of the White House package have no place in an infrastructure bill.
This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
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