华盛顿——周五晚些时候，白宫将乔·拜登总统的全面提议削减至1.7万亿美元，但共和党参议员拒绝了这一令人失望的妥协，称“巨大的分歧”仍然存在，这使一项雄心勃勃的基础设施协议的前景受到严重质疑。

尽管谈判没有破裂，但悲观的评估肯定意味着民主党人对达成协议的时间正在流逝的新担忧。总统的团队坚持一个温和的阵亡将士纪念日决定妥协是否可行的最后期限。各方对拜登的2.3万亿美元计划或共和党提出的5680亿美元替代方案缺乏重大进展的怀疑一直在上升。

白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)表示:“这一提议显示出缩小规模的意愿。”她透露了新的提议，当时关键的内阁秘书和共和党参议员正在谈判，处于达成协议的关键阶段。

但在长达一小时的会议后，共和党人很快拒绝了这一新方法，因为它“远远超出了”一项可能赢得两党支持的提议的范围。

根据共和党六名参议员小组的首席谈判代表、弗吉尼亚州共和党参议员谢莉·摩尔·卡皮托(Shelley Moore Capito)的助手的一份声明，双方“似乎比谈判开始时相距更远”。

自从拜登会见共和党核心谈判小组以来，白宫和共和党参议员一直在就共同制定基础设施计划的可能性进行谈判。白宫本周早些时候派遣交通和商务部长及高级助手到国会山会见共和党人，他们周五进行了后续视频通话。

根据美联社获得的一份备忘录，政府的新方法将从总统的最初提议中削减5500多亿美元。

但备忘录明确表示，拜登对共和党让消费者通过通行费、汽油费支付新投资的想法不感兴趣税或其他费用。相反，政府坚持他的提议，即提高公司税以支付新投资，这是共和党的一条红线。

“我们的方法应该确保企业支付他们的公平份额，”政府谈判代表给共和党参议员的备忘录说。

但据一名熟悉谈判并同意匿名讨论的共和党助手称，共和党人认为白宫的新提议在政策上没有太大差异，是“非常边缘的运动”。

这名助手说，新提议“令人失望”。

确保庞大的基础设施计划是拜登的首要任务，因为他试图兑现自己的竞选承诺，即在冠状病毒危机和经济转型带来的经济动荡之后，“重建得更好”。随着民主党在众议院和参议院的微弱多数，总统正在寻求共和党人对潜在的两党方法的支持，而不是仅仅依靠他自己的政党来强行通过提案。

但共和党人坚决反对拜登提出的通过增加公司税来支付一揽子计划的提议，拒绝撤销2017年减税计划，这是该党在总统任期内标志性的国内成就唐纳德·特朗普。他们将公司税率从35%降至21%。拜登提议将公司税提高到28%。

“如果他们愿意在不重新考虑2017年税收法案的情况下达成基础设施法案，我们将与他们合作，”麦康奈尔告诉福克斯的拉里·库德洛，他是特朗普的前顾问。

Psaki说，新的提议降低了总统提议的宽带以及道路、桥梁和其他主要投资的支出，以满足共和党的较低水平。她表示，政府的提议还包括将“研发、供应链、制造业和小企业的投资”从基础设施谈判中转移出来，因为这些投资可以在其他地方考虑，她在《无尽的前沿法案》(Unended Fronters Act)中指出，该法案是一项单独的两党法案，正在参议院等待批准。

但Psaki表示，总统的团队仍在推动对新的退伍军人医院、铁路项目和绿色能源投资的投资，以应对共和党人从他们的提议中排除的气候变化。

按照共和党人的提议，白宫总共将宽带从1000亿美元削减到650亿美元。它还将道路和桥梁支出减少了390亿美元，从1590亿美元减少到1200亿美元，以接近共和党提出的480亿美元新资金的提议。

助手们说，取消研发资金将削减高达4800亿美元。

根据这份备忘录，白宫将共和党最初提出的5680亿美元的“路线图”提案描述为“新投资”估计达1750亿至2250亿美元，高于国会传统资助的当前水平。

共和党参议员没有公开披露他们的最新提议。

卡皮托办公室的声明称，白宫和参议院共和党人在“基础设施的定义、拟议支出的规模以及如何支付费用”方面仍然存在巨大分歧。

官员们说，白宫的新提议旨在做出真诚的妥协努力，并敦促共和党人提出更实质性的还价。

在早些时候的谈判中，共和党议员的最新提议让政府感到沮丧，他们最初的5680亿美元的提议没有什么进展。

一名官员表示，白宫对基础设施两党协议的希望已经冷却，但他们没有放弃努力。

助手们说，拜登热衷于面对面的谈判，并表示希望让共和党人参与进来。

但表面上的进展会谈并没有转化为双方更接近达成协议。除了双方对一揽子计划规模的看法存在重大分歧之外，很少讨论如何就如何支付达成协议。

一名共和党参议员在会谈中建议，从新冠肺炎大规模援助计划中动用未用资金，帮助支付基础设施投资。其他资金可以从未征收的税收或公私合作中提取。

获得势头的一项战略是，拜登将通过两党合作，谈判一项更有限、更传统的道路、公路、桥梁和宽带基础设施法案。然后，民主党人可以试图独自强行通过拜登在气候投资和所谓的儿童保育、教育和医院等人类基础设施方面的剩余优先事项。

但是，政府助理认为，如果这样一个“只限于基础设施”的两党协议远远小于拜登的最初提议，白宫可能会遭到民主党人的反对，他们可能会声称总统做了一个糟糕的协议，错过了通过一个全面的转型方案的时机。

Infrastructure deal slips, GOP pans $1.7T White House offer

WASHINGTON -- Prospects for an ambitious infrastructure deal were thrown into serious doubt late Friday after the White House reduced President Joe Biden's sweeping proposal to $1.7 trillion but Republican senators rejected the compromise as disappointing, saying "vast differences” remain.

While talks have not collapsed, the downbeat assessment is certain to mean new worries from Democrats that time is slipping to strike a deal. The president’s team is holding to a softMemorial Daydeadline to determine whether a compromise is within reach. Skepticism had been rising on all sides over the lack of significant movement off Biden's $2.3 trillion plan or the GOP's proposed $568 billion alternative.

“This proposal exhibits a willingness to come down in size,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, disclosing the new offer as talks were underway between key Cabinet secretaries and GOP senators at a crucial stage toward a deal.

But after the hourlong meeting, the Republicans quickly rejected the new approach as "well above the range” of a proposal that could win bipartisan support.

The two sides “seem further apart” than when negotiations began, according to a statement from an aide to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the lead negotiator for the group of six GOP senators.

The White House and the Republican senators have been in talks ever since Biden met with a core group of Republican negotiators over the possibility of working together on an infrastructure plan. The White House dispatched the transportation and commerce secretaries and top aides to Capitol Hill to meet with the Republicans earlier this week, and they had a follow-up video call Friday.

According to a memo obtained by The Associated Press, the administration's new approach is cutting more than $550 billion from the president’s initial offer.

But the memo makes clear Biden is not interested in the Republicans’ idea of having consumers pay for the new investments through tolls, gastaxesor other fees. Instead, the administration is sticking with his proposal to raise corporate taxes to pay for the new investment, which is a red line for Republicans.

“Our approach should ensure that corporations are paying their fair share,” said the memo from the administration’s negotiators to the GOP senators.

But Republicans dismissed the new White House offer as “very marginal movement” on the topline without much difference in policy, according to a Republican aide familiar with the negotiations and granted anonymity to discuss them.

The new offer was “disappointing,” the aide said.

Securing a vast infrastructure plan is Biden’s top priority as he seeks to make good on his campaign pledge to “build back better” in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis and the economic churn from a shifting economy. With narrow Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, the president is reaching out to Republicans for support on a potentially bipartisan approach rather than relying simply on his own party to muscle the proposal to passage.

But Republicans are adamantly opposed to Biden’s proposed corporate tax increase to pay for the package, refusing to undo the 2017 tax cuts, the party’s signature domestic accomplishment under PresidentDonald Trump. They reduced the corporate rate from 35% to 21%. Biden proposes lifting the corporate tax to 28%.

“If they’re willing to settle on target a infrastructure bill without revisiting the 2017 tax bill we’ll work with them,” McConnell told Fox’s Larry Kudlow, a former Trump adviser.

Psaki said the new proposal drops the president's proposed expenditures on broadband as well as roads, bridges and other major investments to meet the Republicans' lower level. She said the administration's proposal also involved “shifting investments in research and development, supply chains, manufacturing and small business" out of the infrastructure talks, since they could be considered elsewhere, noting in Endless Frontiers Act, which is a separate bipartisan bill pending in the Senate.

But Psaki said the president's team is still pushing for investments in new veterans hospitals, rail projects and green energy investments to fight climate change that Republicans have excluded from their offers.

In all, the White House cut broadband from $100 billion to $65 billion, as Republicans proposed. It also reduced road and bridges spending by $39 billion, from $159 billion to $120 billion, to move closer to the GOP's proposal of $48 billion in new funds.

Removing the research and development funds would cut a whopping $480 billion, the aides said.

The White House characterized the GOP’s initial $568 billion “Roadmap” proposal as amounting to an estimated $175 billion to $225 billion in “new investment, above current levels Congress has traditionally funded,” according to the memo.

The GOP senators have not publicly disclosed their latest offer.

The statement from Capito's office said there continue to be vast differences between the White House and Senate Republicans on "the definition of infrastructure, the magnitude of proposed spending, and how to pay for it.”

The new offer from the White House was intended to make a good faith effort at compromise, and to prod Republicans to put a more substantive counteroffer on the table, the officials said.

In earlier talks, latest offer from GOP lawmakers left some dismay in the administration that there wasn't more movement from their initial $568 billion proposal.

The White House’s hopes for a bipartisan deal on infrastructure have cooled but they have not abandoned the effort, one of the officials said.

Biden has reveled in the face-to-face negotiations, aides said, and has expressed hope to bring Republicans along.

But the outward talks of progress have not translated into the two sides getting much closer to a deal. Beyond the significant gap in the two sides’ visions for the size of the package, there has been little discussion of how to reach an agreement on how to pay for it.

One GOP senator in the talks suggested tapping unspent funds from the massive COVID-19 aid package to help pay for the infrastructure investment. Other funds could be tapped from uncollected tax revenues or public-private partnerships.

One strategy that had gained momentum would be for Biden to negotiate a more limited, traditional infrastructure bill of roads, highways, bridges and broadband as a bipartisan effort. Then, Democrats could try to muscle through the remainder of Biden’s priorities on climate investments and the so-called human infrastructure of child care, education and hospitals on their own.

But, administration aides believe, if such an "infrastructure only” bipartisan deal is far smaller than Biden’s original proposal, the White House risks a rebellion from Democrats who could claim that the president made a bad deal and missed the moment to pass a sweeping, transformational package.