WHITE HOUSE PARES DOWN INFRA BUDGET PROPOSAL TO $1.7 TRILLION

The White House said on Friday it had pared down its infrastructure bill to $1.7 trillion from $2.25 trillion, with cuts to investments in broadband and roads and bridges, but Republicans dismissed the changes as insufficient for a deal, Jarrett Renshaw and Jeff Mason reported for Reuters.

The White House effort represented a desire by President Joe Biden to engage with the opposition party on an issue that the Democratic president has made a priority in his early days in office. But the two sides remain far apart on everything from the size of the package to how to pay for it.

White House officials held a call with a group of Republican senators on Friday to hash out some of their differences and present the new draft.

"This proposal exhibits a willingness to come down in size, giving on some areas that are important to the president ... while also staying firm in areas that are most vital to rebuilding our infrastructure and industries of the future," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Some aspects that had been removed from the new proposal, such as investments in research and development, would find their way into other bills, she said.

Republican U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito, John Barrasso, Roy Blunt, Mike Crapo, Pat Toomey, and Roger Wicker have put forward their own proposal, which is much smaller than the White House version. They said the White House proposal could not pass Congress with bipartisan support.

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