Bipartisan group of senators to meet with Biden at White House to try to finalize infrastructure deal

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sen. Susan Collins ( R-Maine) walk to the Senate floor after an infrastructure meeting with White House officials on Capitol Hill on June 23, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Biden was set to meet with a bipartisan group of senators Thursday morning as the various sides work to nail down a final agreement on a broad infrastructure deal that would represent one of Biden’s top domestic goals.

On Wednesday evening, multiple senators leaving a negotiation session said the group — which included five Democrats, five Republicans and top White House officials — had tentatively reached a framework agreement for hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending on the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Thursday’s White House meeting was intended to allow the senators to brief Biden on the tentative deal. Senators on Wednesday stressed that not all the specifics have been finalized, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, “There’s still details to be worked out.”

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The lawmaker declined to discuss the precise outlines of the tentative deal, but they noted that the group had agreed not just on spending amounts but also on how to fund the package, which has been the largest sticking point.

An earlier framework reached by the same group of senators, which did not have White House buy-in, included $974 billion in spending over five years, $579 billion of which was for new projects and initiatives.

The agreement is tentative and could still collapse. But Republicans, Democrats and the White House all sounded hopeful notes late Wednesday.

“The group made progress toward an outline of a potential agreement, and the president has invited the group to come to the White House tomorrow to discuss this in-person,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.