Biden's chief of staff maintains White House is serious about working with GOP on infrastructure

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CBS)

published 2 May 2021

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Sunday said "we have to see whether ... Republicans in Washington join the rest of America in broadly supporting" President Biden's $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.

But while he appeared to put the pressure on GOP senators to cross the aisle, he also told CBS News' John Dickerson that Biden had a "great conversation" with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) this week, adding that "we've invited her and a group of Republican senators to the White House in the next few days, hopefully." Klain was adamant that the administration intends to work with Republicans and "find common ground."

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When Biden spoke with Capito he reportedly "suggested he was contemplating her counteroffer of roughly $568 billion more seriously than he viewed the Republican response to his coronavirus relief legislation," the Post writes, especially since there's no pandemic-related shot clock this time. "We have a little more time for the consideration of this, and the percolation of these proposals, to have a broader consolation and dialogue," Steve Ricchetti, a top White House aide, told the Post. Read more at The Washington Post and CBS News.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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