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Biden, two sources close to the call said, was polling Collins, speaking to him freely and leaving the Republican with the distinct impression he was receptive to negotiating with the GOP.
But the call quickly turned south after White House staff intervened, with Collins and White House economic adviser Brian Deese engaging in an exchange over housing finance in the proposal – and the Republican of the Senate saying there was still exceptional sums to be spent.
The end result: No deal, reaffirming Biden’s view that the Republican approach was far too thin for the economic and public health crises at hand.
But Republicans, still angered at the lack of progress in short-lived bipartisan talks, see a president who is crippled by both White House staff and Democrats in Congress who they say have far fewer interest in working with the GOP and seem more willing to do so. advance their program without regard for the minority party. Republicans’ argument: Biden appears ready to make a deal but won’t because of pressure from the people around him.
“He seemed more willing than his staff to negotiate,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, who met with Biden and a group of GOP senators earlier this month.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says this is the message Republican senators who negotiated with Biden also left him.
“Our members who were at the meeting felt that the President seemed more interested in this than his staff – or that it appears Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are,” McConnell said earlier this month. .
White House officials rebuffed the idea that Biden’s aides were preventing him from pursuing a more bipartisan approach to Covid relief, and the president himself told Collins and other Republicans at the meeting from the Oval Office that their proposal was lacking.
Biden said on a visit to a Pfizer facility in Michigan on Friday that while he is ready to work with Republicans to make his bill “cheaper,” he is not ready to make big compromise on its content.
“What would they make me cut? What would they make me forget?” He asked forcefully.
A White House official said Biden had been “consistent” in his private conversations with lawmakers about the need to “do it big,” saying that while he was “open to common ground “with the Republicans,” he thinks that what the Republican group put forward earlier this month is insufficient, and he has not shied away from that point of view in any of the negotiations around this bill. “
Democrats move forward
Democrats say they have learned very well from the mistakes of the past, including during Barack Obama’s first year in office, arguing that spending months negotiating with Republicans will ultimately lead to a policy they believe is watered down . Plus, making a deal with GOP senators would almost certainly divide Democrats, especially in the House, something Democratic leaders in Congress are eager to avoid.
Next, the Senate is set to seize the bill, with Democratic leaders signaling that they will bypass Senate committees and take action directly to the ground in a bid to block the bill in Congress in early March.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday told fellow Democrats they were “on track” to pass the $ 1.9 trillion bill by March 14. at which unemployment benefits were to expire.
“If Republicans are prepared to work with Democrats on constructive amendments that will improve the bill, we are ready to work,” Schumer said.
“However, we must not allow Republican obstructionism to deter us from our mission to provide aid to Americans who desperately need it.”
Even though Republicans blame Biden for going it alone, Democrats say the GOP is nowhere near hitting the required price.
Ahead of their White House meeting with Biden, Collins and nine other Republicans unveiled a $ 600 billion counter-proposal to the president’s $ 1.9 trillion bill, which Democrats immediately called insufficient .
The GOP plan had $ 160 billion for vaccinations, an extension of federal unemployment benefits, and included relief checks that Republicans said were more narrowly tailored to those in need most. He also avoided controversial ideas like raising the minimum wage to $ 15, which is strongly opposed by Republicans.
Republicans are now warning that what could be Biden’s first major achievement will almost certainly happen without GOP backing.
“If this goes ahead without any change from what was originally proposed, I would predict that not a single Republican would support the $ 1.9 trillion plan,” said Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah.
Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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