President Joe Biden will sit down for one-on-one talks on Wednesday with Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito aimed at a breakthrough on a bill to revitalize U.S. infrastructure -- though the two disagree on what that word means.
Today's meeting, scheduled to take place at 2:45 p.m. ET in the White House Oval Office, comes as the Biden administration faces pressure from some of Biden's fellow Democrats in Congress to move forward.
Speaking in Shelbyville, Kentucky, McConnell said state and local officials nationwide would be overwhelmed by "massive" amounts of money from the latest COVID-19 aid bill, passed earlier this year without Republican votes. Some of this money could be used "to plug the gap between what the gas tax raises, and what we would like to do on infrastructure," he said.
Biden's Democrats hold narrow margins of control in both houses of Congress and could try to pass a measure without Republican support through a process called reconciliation that circumvents Senate rules that require 60 votes to pass most legislation. Even that approach is uncertain, though, as at least two Senate Democrats have raised concerns about the maneuver.
Aside from the overall cost and scope of the plans, the White House and Senate Republicans remain far apart on how to finance infrastructure projects.
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