In order to garner Republican support, the White House on Friday proposed reducing the size of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending package proposal by half a trillion dollars, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Republican lawmakers have rejected the new White House proposal, AFP reported.

“There continue to be vast differences between the White House and Senate Republicans when it comes to the definition of infrastructure, the magnitude of proposed spending and how to pay for it,” said a spokeswoman for Shelley Moore Capito, who is part of a group of Republican senators negotiating with the Biden administration over the proposal.

“Based on today’s meeting, the groups seem further apart after two meetings with White House staff than they were after one meeting with President Biden. Senate Republicans will further review the details in today’s counteroffer and continue to engage in conversations with the administration.”

In March, the President chalked out the American Jobs Plan, which was initially envisioned to cost around $2.3 trillion and direct money towards fixing roads and bridges as well as expanding services like broadband internet and increasing climate change resiliency across the United States.

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However, with the Democratic Party only controlling Congress by a small margin, Biden is forced to secure Republican support to pass the measure. Hence, the announcement from Psaki to drop the cost of the measure to $1.7 trillion is to attain some “common ground”.

“This proposal exhibits a willingness to come down in size, giving on some areas that are important to the president… while staying firm in areas that are most vital to rebuilding our infrastructure and industries of the future, making our country more competitive with China,” she told reporters, according to AFP inputs.

Earlier in the day, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy proposed spending $460 billion on infrastructure while calling the president’s plan “another $2 trillion in spending on a wish-list of progressive policies.”

Psaki said money included in the original plan to pay for research, supply chains, manufacturing and small businesses would be shifted to other bills, lowering the American Jobs Plan’s price tag overall.

It would also reduce overall spending on roads and bridges, as well as on broadband.

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However spending on improved rail transportation would stay, “especially considering China’s level of investment in such projects,” Psaki said, while money for the removal of lead pipes and projects to bolster the country against climate change would also remain.

The White House also rejected ideas from Republicans to increase gas taxes or impose user fees instead of raising taxes on corporations, Psaki said.

Biden “believes that the extraordinarily wealthy companies… many of whom have not paid taxes in recent years, can afford a modest increase to pay for middle-class jobs,” Psaki said.