To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: A Bipartisan Deal On Infrastructure Remains Out Of Grasp. Last week, the GOP offered a counter proposal to Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, topping out at – so close – almost $1 Trillion. However, the GOP offer only included $200 million of new money with the rest reprogrammed COVID aid already paid. The Biden folks show no inclination to accept this. Despite the increase in the overall size of their package, the GOP proposal still deviates significantly from Joe Biden’s proposal. Specifically, the GOP proposal focuses exclusively on what it coins traditional infrastructure – roads, bridges, water, rail and airports – to the exclusion of some of Joe Biden’s other “soft” infrastructure priorities, such as child care, elder care, and installing electric vehicle charging stations throughout our vast highway system. The salient topic of climate change, which has always been tied to the use of electric vehicles, even if it remains a largely unspoken driver, undergirds the stark political lines drawn by this issue. The group of GOP negotiators was led by West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who met with President Biden on Wednesday. While that meeting did not yield an agreement, they did agree to meet again