White House trying to put infrastructure deal on track

The White House is trying to put President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal back on track after Republican senators balked at his demand to pair the nearly $1 trillion plan with an even bigger investment package

WASHINGTON -- The White House is trying to put President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure deal back on track after Republican senators balked at his demand to pair the nearly $1 trillion plan with an even bigger investment package. Tensions appeared to have cooled Saturday after White House negotiators Steve Ricchetti and Louisa Terrell assured senators that Biden remained enthusiastic about the deal, even though he had said he would not sign a bill unless it was accompanied by trillions more in a separate measure. They said the president will seek to make a forceful public case for the initial agreement. According to a person familiar with the aides' calls to lawmakers, Biden's team portrayed the fallout from his remarks as nothing more than the back-and-forth that can happen in Washington negotiations. Biden plans to pitch the deal in trips around the country and is confident it will become law, said this person, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity. “My hope is that we’ll still get this done,” said Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press.