Biden Rival McConnell Wants Smaller Infrastructure Deal As President Offers Compromise

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2021) US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday pressed the White House to trim its proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure deal after President Joe Biden indicated that he was open to a compromise on the size of the package

"Certainly here in the Senate, there are a group of us looking to get to an outcome on infrastructure which would involve a more modest amount targeted and what all of us can agree is in fact infrastructure," McConnell told a news conference. "And, hopefully, I'd like to see a credible way to pay for it."

Biden, who held talks with a group of bipartisan lawmakers at the White House on Monday to discuss the infrastructure deal, said it was "a big package [with] lots of needs".

But he added that he was prepared to reduce the spending required on the plan, in order to win support from rival Republicans.

The president has proposed to increase the US corporate tax to 28 percent from 21 percent to help foot the infrastructure bill.

Republicans largely oppose the plan as wasteful spending, saying only a fraction of the cost will be spent on infrastructure and that it could lead to hyperinflation.