Are They Learning

Obama would have taken the $600b, received 0 Republican votes for the "compromise," and then be very sad that The Council of David Brookses still didn't give him credit for being bipartisan.

Talking policy with Benjy: Why a bipartisan deal on infrastructure looks unlikely A moderate group of Republicans is set to potentially offer an infrastructure plan of their own this week — with the hopes of enticing Democrats to the table. But if you want to see why the White House is so lukewarm on bipartisanship right now, take a look at how they want to pay for it.

Republicans oppose raising corporate taxes, Biden’s preferred pay-for. So Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., appearing on CNBC, suggested they might offer a smaller $600 to $800 billion plan funded by other means. One possibility Sen. Mitt Romney floated to reporters: user fees like a gas tax, which has traditionally paid for highway maintenance, but not been raised in decades to keep up with inflation. Another idea with some GOP interest in the House and Senate is supplementing or replacing that tax with a “vehicle miles traveled” charge that accounts for the ongoing transition toward electric vehicles.

The pod people would've high fived the Bartlet moment at Le Diplomate though.