Discussions between President Joe Biden and key Senate Republicans about infrastructure legislation are expected to continue this week, with the goal of narrowing the wide gap between initial proposals from each side.

The proposed legislative frameworks are far apart. Biden on March 31 unveiled a $2.3-trillion American Jobs Plan Act, which includes $1 trillion for core infrastructure programs, ENR estimates. Funding generally would be spread over eight years.

But the American Jobs Plan also includes substantial funding for other programs, such as home health care, that constitute a more expansive definition of infrastructure.

Senate Republicans on April 22 countered with a $568-billion five-year proposal, limiting spending to fewer infrastructure categories, such as transportation, water and broadband.

Biden held meetings in the Oval Office on May 12, with congressional leaders from both parties, and on May 13, with top Republicans on key infrastructure committees. The next step is a revised offer from the Republicans, which could be released within days.

After the May 13 meeting, which included top GOP Senators on committees that oversee infrastructure-related sectors, Biden said, “I laid out what I thought we should be doing, and how it should be paid for.”

拜登说，共和党参议员“说他们会以他们准备做的事情和资金以及如何资助的对方来回到我身边，然后我们下周再次交谈。”

参议员雪莉·摩尔·卡皮托（Shelley Moore Capito）（R-W.Va。）曾是参议院共和党基础设施​​的人，在5月13日会议后告诉记者：“我们有一个非常有生产力，高度的付出和付出。”

Capito, ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, added, “We did talk specifics. And the president has asked us to come back and rework an offer so that he can then react to that and then re-offer to us.”

她说：“我们非常鼓励，”拜登补充说：“非常渴望达成协议”。

Key unresolved issues include what infrastructure sectors should be covered, an overall price tag for the measure and—perhaps toughest of all—what revenue sources to tap to pay for the package.

拜登（Biden）建议通过部分减少2017年减税和乔布斯法案的降低公司税率来资助他的计划。

Red Lines on the 'Pay-Fors'

But Republicans see that as a nonstarter. After the May 12 meeting with Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters, "We're not interested in reopening the 2017 tax bill."

麦康奈尔说，他和众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡（R-Calif）都“向总统说明了这一点。”麦康奈尔补充说：“那是我们的红线。”

There has been talk of drawing on user fees to finance the package. The current federal user fee that brings in the most revenue is the 18.4¢ per gallon gasoline tax.

Biden has pledged not to raise taxes on those earning less than $400,000 a year. "That is still a red line," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in her May 14 briefing. Psaki added, "User fees that have been proposed out there would violate that."

Bipartisan Approach or Democrats-Only?

Observers are watching closely to see whether a bipartisan agreement will be reached. Meanwhile, work is proceeding in the House Transportation and Infrastructure, and Senate Environment and Public Works committees on a new bill to reauthorize federal highway and transit programs, either as a stand-alone measure or part of a bigger package.

Anthony Foxx, Transportation Secretary in the last four years of the Obama administration, said, "if there are large portions of the American Jobs Plan that get bipartisan support, I can easily see the administration agreeing to have those portions move forwards in a bipartisan fashion."

Foxx, speaking on a Zoom call May 14 with reporters and Obama DOT alumni, added, "The administration always has the opportunity to proceed in a more muscular fashion with Democrats going it alone. And perhaps that is what will happen with the remaining parts."

福克斯（Foxx）指的是民主党人利用预算和解机制的能力，以允许以多数席位进行参议院通过。

“I could see [the White House] sort of breaking up some pieces of the large package into bite size-chunks—some of which would pass with bipartisan support, some of which may not," he said.

Jimmy Christianson, Associated General Contractors of America vice president for government relations, said in an interview, "I think that the fact that you see this much interest in negotiation [on the part of] the White House is a sign that there may not be a unanimous 50-senator vote avenue at this moment for passing an infrastructure bill through reconciliation. So perhaps this is a way of finding a bipartisan path forward."

He said pursuing a bipartisan approach would require "reaching to the middle instead of the far extremes is the only viable path forward" to produce a measure with substantial increases over current infrastructure funding levels.

Christianson said that would be "a better outcome for the construction industry more broadly than something that’s written by one party."

公路运输法案

Meanwhile, work is proceeding in the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Environment and Public Works committees on a new bill to reauthorize federal highway and transit programs, either as a stand-alone measure or as part of a bigger package.

波特兰水泥协会高级政府事务副总裁肖恩·奥尼尔（Sean O’Neill）在接受采访时说，白宫基础设施的讨论和国会公路运输法案的进展是进步的迹象。“这鼓励人们在今年夏天的某个时候可以实现对基础设施[立法]的行动。”

He said the scope and total funding levels that might emerge from the Biden-GOP talks aren't clear, "but the willingness of both sides ... to negotiate is encouraging."

根据克里斯蒂安森（Christianson）的说法，参议院和众议院委员会领导人表示，他们希望在阵亡将士纪念日之前批准其各自的地面运输法案。但是他补充说：“我们看到截止日期滑到六月。”