Biden to Meet McConnell, McCarthy Wednesday at Pivotal Point for Dealmaking

President Joe Biden is preparing for his first face-to-face meeting with the top two congressional Republicans, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, just as the GOP is ramping up opposition to his $4 trillion economic plan, a rallying point for the party amid infighting over allegiance to former President Donald Trump.

After McConnell declared last week that he’s “100%” focused on blocking Biden’s agenda and with McCarthy aligning himself with the faction in his party that questions the legitimacy of the 2020 election, there’s little expectation of a breakthrough.

But the coming week still could prove pivotal for any chances of an agreement on the infrastructure portion of Biden’s suite of long-term economic proposals.

The White House session, which also includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, will take place the same day a Senate committee attempts to advance a bipartisan China-focused manufacturing bill widely seen as a test case for deal-making.

Both sides will be armed with Friday’s jobs report, which showed vastly weaker than expected U.S. job gains in April. Payrolls rose 266,000, less than half the median forecast, while unemployment edged up to 6.1%.

The White House said the report demonstrated the need for the infrastructure and manufacturing-focused American Jobs Plan and social safety net-focused American Families Plan. “We’re still digging our way out of a very deep hole we were put in,” Biden said Friday.

The president and other Democrats also said the data should quiet the alarms being raised by Republicans, including Maine Senator Susan Collins, that the flood of government spending will ignite inflation.

Republicans countered that the hiring shortfall showed it was time to roll back expanded unemployment benefits, saying they were stopping people from going back to work. It also stiffened GOP opposition to the tax increases on the wealthy and corporations that are a central part of the Biden package.

“This is a stunning economic setback, and unequivocal proof that President Biden is sabotaging our jobs recovery with promises of higher taxes and regulation on local businesses that discourage hiring and drive jobs overseas,” Texas Representative Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House tax-writing committee, said.

But previously, Republicans had cited stronger economic data as showing there was no need for additional government spending. That argument may resurface in coming months as more adults get vaccinated, spurring a return to the job market.

The debate over the jobs report comes as Biden and top Democrats continue to say they want to explore moving at least part of the Biden plan through Congress with Republican cooperation before resorting to a partisan budget process to try to ram it through with only Democratic votes. Democrats say that moderates in their party will not consider the partisan approach until a sincere effort at a deal is made.

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