Senate Republicans announce $928 billion counteroffer on infrastructure

A group of Senate Republicans announced a $928 billion counteroffer on infrastructure on Thursday, a marked increase from their initial proposal. But their offer is still significantly smaller than the slimmed-down alternative to President Biden's original massive proposal and is focused solely on physical infrastructure needs that do not incorporate the president's priorities on bolstering "human infrastructure."

The proposal by a group led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito responds to some of the concerns raised by Mr. Biden during their meeting with him at the White House earlier this month. The Republicans had previously come back with a counteroffer of $568 billion, which many Democrats dismissed as too small. Their new offer raises funding levels by $257 billion. "Senate Republicans continue to negotiate in good faith," Capito said in a press conference on Thursday. "We believe that this counteroffer delivers on what President Biden told us in the Oval Office that day, and that is to try to reach somewhere near $1 trillion over an eight year period of time."