Biden to GOP: $1 trillion in infrastructure spending paid with corporate tax hike

President Joe Biden is reportedly coming down on the price tag on an infrastructure package in hopes of coming to a bipartisan compromise with a group of Republican senators, but new spending and corporate tax hikes remain sticking points in negotiations.

In about an hourlong meeting with Republican negotiator West Virginia Sen. Shelly Moore Capito on Wednesday, Biden asked for $1 trillion in new spending on top of a baseline of $400 billion over five years, according to CNN and Politico.

That would put Biden's new ask down from his initial $2.3 trillion proposal and the $1.7 trillion compromise previously offered to Republicans.

But it is significantly higher than what Republicans proposed last week: A $928 billion counteroffer focusing on traditional “infrastructure” such as roads, bridges, and broadband projects, with much of the money for the projects coming from unspent funds originally designated in coronavirus relief legislation and $257 billion in new spending. That was an increase from Republicans' original five-year $568 billion proposal.