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Biden says bipartisan deal reached on infrastructure

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19 min ago

Biden says bipartisan infrastructure bill and budget resolution must go through Congress “in tandem”

From CNN’s Maegan Vazquez

President Biden said on Thursday that he expects Congress will take up votes on both the newly agreed upon bipartisan infrastructure deal and the budget resolution before the fiscal year is over, saying he will not sign the measures if only one ends up on his desk.

When asked if he received any reassurances that both measures will come to him for his signature in tandem, Biden said, “I control that.”

“If they don’t come, I’m not signing it. Real simple. So, what I expect – I expect that in the coming months this summer, before the fiscal year is over, that we will have voted on this bill, the infrastructure bill, as well as voted on the budget resolution,” Biden added. “But if only one comes to me – if this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m not signing it. It’s in tandem.”

The President also said he supports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to hold the bipartisan infrastructure deal in the House until the Senate also passes reconciliation.

“Look, the bipartisan bill from the very beginning was understood there’s going to have to be the second part of it,” Biden continued. “I’m not just signing the bipartisan bill and forgetting about the rest I proposed. I proposed a significant piece of legislation in three parts. And all three parts are equally important.”

“My party is divided but my party is also rational. If they can’t get every single thing they want but all that they have in the bill before them is good, are they going to vote no? I don’t think so,” the President said.

10 min ago

Biden says he trusts GOP senators who negotiated bipartisan infrastructure deal to keep their word

From CNN’s DJ Judd

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

President Biden expressed optimism that Republicans would keep their word and support today’s bipartisan framework on infrastructure, telling reporters, “I worked with a lot of these people in the room. I know them.”

“Everybody knows and you guys know when certain senators tell you something they mean it. And others you take, you discount,” Biden told reporters in the White House East Room. “Where I come from, in my years in the Senate, the single greatest currency you have is your word, keeping your word. Mitt Romney’s never broken his word to me. You know, the Senator from Alaska, the Senator from New Hampshire, they’ve never broken their word—the Senator from Maine, they’re friends. And so, the people I was with today are people that I trust,” Biden said while taking questions from reporters at the White House.”

“The people I was with today are people that I trust. I don’t agree with them on a lot of things, but I trust them when they say, ‘This is the deal. We’ll stick to the deal,'” Biden said.

Biden pointed to lingering areas of disagreement, including investments on climate resilience. 

“But for example there’s, I made it clear today, there’s other things in the environment I want to get done,” Biden said. “So, there’s things, so when I said we agree, I’m not going to go back and renegotiate the Amtrak piece, but I am going to fight for trying to get 300 billion dollars more for tax credits for the environment.”

Watch here:

23 min ago

Biden on bipartisan deal: “Neither side got everything they want”

From CNN’s Josiah Ryan

President Biden today characterized the bipartisan deal on an infrastructure package as a true compromise in that neither Republicans or Democrats got everything they wanted.

“Let me be clear — neither side got everything they want in this deal,” he said, speaking at the White House this afternoon. “That’s what it means to compromise. And it reflects something important, it reflects consensus. The heart of democracy. It requires consensus.”

He also suggested the agreement could be a harbinger of a more bipartisan era of dealmaking in the Beltway in the months to come. 

“This group of senators, and all the American people can be proud today, because we reaffirmed once again, we are the United States of America,” Biden said.

“There’s not a single thing beyond our capacity that we aren’t able to do, when we do it together,” The President added.

The agreement, hashed out among 5 Republican senators and 5 Democratic senators Wednesday evening, would have a total cost of $1.2 trillion over eight years, with $559 billion in new spending, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

This proposal is significantly less than what Biden had initially proposed. The President initially put forward a $2.25 trillion plan to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and shift to greener energy over the next eight years.

“It reflects something important,” said Biden. “It reflects consensus. The heart of democracy requires consensus.”

This deal “signals to ourselves and to the world that American democracy can deliver, he said. “Because of that, it represents an important step forward for our country.”

Watch here:

CNN’s Kate Sullivan and Phil Mattingly contributed reporting to this post. 

28 min ago

Biden: “The bipartisan agreement represents the largest investment in public transit in American history”

Evan Vucci/AP
Evan Vucci/AP

President Biden championed the bipartisan infrastructure deal, calling it “the largest investment in public transit in American history.”

“I might add that the largest investment of rail since the creation of Amtrak, you all know I have nothing but affection for Amtrak, having traveled over a million miles on it, commuting every day. But it’s a big deal,” Biden said today in a speech from the White House. “This agreement is going to create new financing authority that is going to leverage capital on infrastructure and clean energy projects. It will provide folks with good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced. The kind of jobs that provide a middle class life, with a little bit of breathing room.”

More on the deal: Biden said earlier Thursday that he had agreed to a deal on infrastructure with a bipartisan group of senators after White House officials and the senators had a massive breakthrough the night before in their infrastructure negotiations.

Both Republican and Democratic senators said Wednesday evening there was an agreement reached with White House officials and 10 senators on a bipartisan infrastructure deal. And on Thursday afternoon, Biden said he had signed off on the agreement.

Watch here:

CNN’s Kate Sullivan and Phil Mattingly contributed reporting to this post. 

27 min ago

Biden: Bipartisan infrastructure agreement “will create millions of American jobs”

President Biden said that he was “pleased” to report that a bipartisan agreement was reached on infrastructure with a group of bipartisan senators.

“I said many times before, there’s nothing our nation can’t do when we decide to do it together. Do it as on nation,” Biden said during remarks at the White House.

“I’m pleased to report that a bipartisan group of senators, five Democrats, five Republicans, part of a larger group have come together to enforce an agreement that will create millions of American jobs and modernize our American infrastructure to compete with the rest of the world in the 21st century,” the President said.

Biden thanked the bipartisan group for working together and for raising ideas and concerns with him and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We devoted far too much energy on in competing with each other and not nearly enough competing with the rest of the world to win the 21st century. The investments we’ll be making as a result of this deal are long overdue. They’ll put Americans to work in good-paying jobs, repairing our roads and bridges. They’ll deliver high speed internet to every American home, bringing down the price that people pay now for internet service. And it will close the American digital divide,” Biden said.

Watch here:

53 min ago

NOW: Biden speaks after announcing deal on infrastructure

From CNN’s Jason Hoffman, Kate Sullivan and Phil Mattingly

Evan Vucci/AP
Evan Vucci/AP

President Biden is delivering remarks now from the White House East Room about the infrastructure deal.

The President told reporters earlier today that he had agreed to a deal on infrastructure with a bipartisan group of senators after White House officials and the senators had a massive breakthrough the night before in their infrastructure negotiations.

Both Republican and Democratic senators said Wednesday evening there was an agreement reached with White House officials and 10 senators on a bipartisan infrastructure deal. And on Thursday afternoon, Biden said he had signed off on the agreement.

What we know about the deal: Biden said Republicans and the bipartisan group of senators did not support the issues outlined in his American Families Plan, which calls for an additional $1.8 trillion federal spending on education, childcare and other priorities. The Families Plan is the second part of the President’s proposal to revitalize the nation and ensure a more equitable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

A lot of work remains on the policy and drafting side of the proposal. But Biden and his team have grown increasingly bullish on the pathway a bipartisan agreement lays out for moving the full scope of the President’s $4 trillion economic agenda.

Many details of the plan remain unclear. But the total cost of the plan is $1.2 trillion over eight years, with $559 billion in new spending, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

This proposal is significantly less than what Biden had initially proposed. The President initially put forward a $2.25 trillion plan to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and shift to greener energy over the next eight years.

Read more about the deal here.

22 min ago

White House releases breakdown of bipartisan infrastructure deal

Ahead of President Biden’s remarks on today’s infrastructure agreement, the White House released details of the deal.

Here are some of the things they outlined:

  • The package will total $973 billion in new and baseline spending over five years, and $1,209 billion in new and baseline spending over 8 years
  • Among proposed payfors, the White House lists reducing the IRS tax gap, redirecting unused funds from unemployment insurance and the 2020 American Rescue Plan, and reinstating superfund fees for chemicals.
  • Included in the package, in addition to traditional infrastructure investments like roads and bridges, are additional investments in wireless broadband, climate resilience and investments in electric vehicles, including chargers along highways and a new fleet of school and transit buses to reduce emissions.
  • The plan also includes an update and expanded rail system, which it boasts “is the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak.”

Read more about the deal here.

21 min ago

This is what Biden had written on a notecard when speaking to reporters about the infrastructure deal

 From CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Jason Hoffman

When President Biden emerged for what seemed liked impromptu remarks, he was actually carrying a prepared notecard with a script thanking the senators for their work.

Biden also seems to have blown off the first line someone wrote for him, “Welcome to infrastructure week!”

In this close-up of a photo captured by AFP photographer Jim Watson, Biden’s notecard is visible:

President Joe Biden holds a notecard as he speaks to the media outside the White House after a meeting with a bipartisan group of Senators on infrastructure negotiations on Thursday.
President Joe Biden holds a notecard as he speaks to the media outside the White House after a meeting with a bipartisan group of Senators on infrastructure negotiations on Thursday. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
56 min ago

White House carefully choreographed this day for maximum impact

From CNN’s Phil Mattingly

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

White House officials worked to carefully choreograph this day in an effort to secure maximum impact – and momentum – for the bipartisan agreement.

Even before President Biden went into his meeting with senators he’d made clear he was going to support the agreement, according to multiple sources. Presidential remarks were likely. A tweet announcing the deal was prepared. And Biden himself chose to join senators at their planned White House stakeout to announce the deal himself.

There’s a strategy behind the day on the messaging side – securing a bipartisan deal is a win for a President who promised he could deliver on what many said was aspirational in the current climate.

But the public moves today can also be viewed through the legislative lens – White House officials are keenly aware that they have a long road ahead to lock in support for the agreement. They are confident they will get there, officials say. But working to amp up momentum ahead of the process ahead was seen as a valuable asset.

The meeting itself did include a rundown of provisions, but Biden left little doubt where he stood from the moment he entered. Instead, the meeting was more focused on the President and senators discussing the importance of a bipartisan deal given where things stand with the country, in the Senate, and with dilapidated American infrastructure.

As Biden spoke to reporters with the senators after the meeting, his top negotiating team – Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Louisa Terrell, Biden’s legislative affairs chief, stood with Vice President Kamala Harris about 20 feet away near the entrance to the West Wing with wide smiles on their faces.

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