Republicans boost infrastructure offer to $928 billion

U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled a new infrastructure offer that would spend $928 billion over eight years to revitalize America's roads, bridges and broadband systems.

Sen. Capito: “It sticks to the core infrastructure features we talked to initially, it's a serious effort to try to reach a bipartisan agreement."

The amount is still well below President Joe Biden's last proposal of $1.7 trillion, which the group rejected, saying it still contained social spending provisions - on things like healthcare, expanding child care and modernizing schools...

And that it still imposed tax hikes on U.S. corporations, which they oppose.

The Republican proposal - announced by Senator Shelley Moore Capito - includes $506 billion for roads, bridges and major projects, with another $98 billion allocated to public transit.

They proposed paying for the plan with funds previously authorized for COVID-19 relief.

A Biden administration official said on Thursday the White House was considering the offer seriously.

But just the day before, a White House official had rejected the idea of repurposing already-authorized COVID-19 funding for infrastructure.

Biden has imposed an unofficial end-of-May deadline on the negotiations, and some Senate Democrats have been pushing to go it alone if Republicans do not reach an agreement soon.

Thursday's proposal still leaves the two sides hundreds of billions of dollars apart, with no agreement on the scope of a package or how to pay for it.