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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today joined The Story on Fox News after her meeting with President Biden to discuss the latest on infrastructure negotiations.
At the White House, Senator Capito was joined by five of her Senate Republican colleagues, and President Biden was joined by Vice President Harris, Transportation Secretary Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Raimondo.
HIGHLIGHTS:
ON MEETING BETWEEN SENATE REPUBLICANS, PRESIDENT BIDEN: “I think we accomplished a lot. I think we both voiced our desire to reach a bipartisan agreement. We started to narrow what our definition as Republicans physical, core infrastructure is, and have the president react to that, and vice versa. He was very open to suggestions, as were we. I think it’s a good jump start. We’ve already passed a water bill, which is one of the parts of a physical infrastructure package we think is important. So we’ve gotten a little bit along the way. We promised to come back with another offer that he will react to then and counter-offer. We did what we intended to do, which was get next steps, be very cordial and ready to deal.”
ON PRESIDENT BIDEN’S WILLINGNESS TO NEGOTIATE WITH REPUBLICANS: “He’s a former senator himself. He’s made a lot of deals through his many years in the Senate. I think we all felt that he was an honest broker here in terms of wanting to actually do something together that we’ve traditionally gotten done together, which is infrastructure. I didn’t have a feeling, and I don’t think any of my fellow senators did either, that this was some sort of end-around play. We are still in motion here and that’s the good news.”
ON MAKING PROGRESS IN EXPLAINING HOW REPUBLICANS DEFINE INFRASTRUCTURE: “I think we did, I think he understands that…I’m not saying he agrees with it or with everything, and that’s the point of a negotiation here. He understands why we knocked some things out and if he wants to try to have us reconsider that’s a part of a negotiation. I think he got our point. He understands what we think modern infrastructure is, including broadband, and how big that package could be. We didn’t get to specific number but also how to pay for it.”
ON LEADER MCCONNELL’S SUPPORT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE NEGOTIATIONS: “He has encouraged me, and us as a team, to go in and talk, and I think we moved the ball forward today.”
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