For the past two months, we’ve heard plenty of discussion about President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan and the American Family Plan. The back-to-back legislative punch offered the President an opportunity to lay out his many priorities including infrastructure and tax changes, but also expanded into funding climate priorities and broadband. Democrats could push through a partisan process in another reconciliation later this year, but for now there’s some hope bipartisanship can bring a more tailored approach with an infrastructure-focused bill possibly on the summer docket.

In recent weeks the White House has hosted meetings with Republicans looking to craft a bipartisan compromise, with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., taking a leadership position on behalf of the Republicans. From the beginning, President Biden and moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have publicly indicated that they would like for both of these plans, particularly the American Jobs Plan which focuses on infrastructure, to be passed in a bipartisan manner.

As a result, over the past month President Biden has hosted discussions with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,, and a group of Republican Party senators led by Capito, the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Related: Bumpy road ahead for bipartisan infrastructure bill

At the onset of the negotiations, Capito proposed an $568 billion infrastructure package focused on hard infrastructure such as roads, bridges and railways which would be funded by repurposing money allocated to fight COVID-19 and increased user fees for those driving electric vehicles.

The Biden administration indicated that this proposal was a nonstarter for its failure to address key issues such as green infrastructure, affordable housing and eldercare. As well, Republicans have indicated that they do not support any of the Democrats’ proposed tax provisions, particularly those which would change the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

How to pay for it

Senate Republicans and the Biden administration inched closer to a bipartisan infrastructure deal when Senate Republicans offered a “traditional infrastructure” package expected to cost $928 billion over eight years. While the top line number is more agreeable to the Biden administration, which offered a $1.7 trillion package, the two sides disagree on the availability of leftover COVID-relief funds Senate Republicans have included as a way to pay for a portion of their plan.

The Republican proposal includes $506 billion for roads, bridges, and major projects, with another $98 billion allocated to public transit.

Capito says the 2017 tax cuts are “completely off the table” in how to pay for the package and instead focused on using unspent COVID funds and user fees for electric or hybrid use vehicles.

And it’s not just Republicans voicing concerns over the proposed changes to the tax code. In a letter to Biden, House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott, D-Ga., says although he supports the priorities in the American Jobs Plan and the American Family Plan, he also warns some provisions could hurt farmers.

“I am very concerned that proposals to pay for these investments could partially come on the backs of our food, fiber, and fuel producers,” Scott writes. “In particular, ‘step-up in basis’ is a critical tool enabling family farming operations to continue from generation to generation.

“The potential for capital gains to be imposed on heirs at death of the landowner would impose a significant financial burden on these operations. Additionally, my understanding of the exemptions is that they would just delay the tax liability for those continuing the farming operation until time of sale, which could result in further consolidation in farmland ownership,” Scott continues. “This would make it more difficult for young, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers to get into farming."

Rural infrastructure needs

Meanwhile, members of the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, calling for the funds to expand broadband in the pending infrastructure legislation to be flexible. This would ensure that broadband funds are delivered to areas of the country where they are most needed. The Blue Dogs also called for the legislation to ensure that internet delivered to underserved and unserved communities is not slower-tier than other parts of the country.

Related: Time for USDA, not FCC, to take over rural broadband

The Rebuild Rural Coalition is comprised of more than 260 organizations representing U.S. ag producers, rural businesses, rural communities and rural families. The coalition is urging lawmakers to fashion a bipartisan agreement on a strong legislative package that sets aside specific funding for rural communities. The coalition includes among its wide-ranging membership organizations as national in scope as the National Corn Growers Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation; and as regional and industry-specific as the American Cotton Shippers Association and Bongards Premium Cheese.

Timeline pushing farther out

In the Senate, with its 50-50 split, Democrats’ chances of success would depend on maintaining caucus support for the measure along with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris – a prospective face-off between the parties that would likely have long-lasting and negative repercussions on any legislative negotiations going forward.

Originally, Democrats had made clear behind closed doors that they intended to pass the bill by September to pass it during the 2021 fiscal year. However, with a recent rules change allowing Democrats to pass multiple bills through the reconciliation process (a process which allows them to pass bills in the Senate with a simple majority vote) and internal party divisions over the bill not yet resolved, this timeline is likely to be pushed later into the fall of this year.

When White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked how thin the president’s patience is when it comes to negotiating some of the bipartisan agreements, her response was that the president has a “bit of experience legislating” and he’s looking for ways to find common ground.  

She adds, ‘“Negotiations’ mean both sides continue to make moves toward each other, both sides continue to look for areas where they agree.  And that's what he's prepared to do,” she said ahead of the president’s June 2 meeting with Capito. “At the same time, we're working on a number of different paths” which she says includes discussions between bipartisan members in the Senate about how they might come to agreement on a path forward on a historic investment in infrastructure, on a version of the American Jobs Plan. 

Next week Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., is going to be marking up the American Jobs Plan in the House -- something a lot of members and Democrats in the House are quite excited about, Psaki adds. 

Psaki says Biden “knows that sometimes in this journey and this path, you have to keep a range of options on the table.”