Liberals to Biden: Ditch the infrastructure talks with Republicans

Asked if the Biden administration should keep talking to Republicans about a bipartisan infrastructure deal, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) replied: “Absolutely not. Because we might lose our coalition for human infrastructure.” Instead she's “100 percent” in favor of pushing through a multitrillion-dollar package using the blunt partisan mechanism of budget reconciliation. “I do not think that the White House should relegate recovery to the judgment of Mitch McConnell, because he will not function in good faith,” said Gillibrand, who made her case recently to Bruce Reed, Biden’s deputy chief of staff. “So, I just think it's a terrible political misstep.” House progressives sent their own warning shot Tuesday to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, arguing in a letter that Democrats should pursue a multitrillion-dollar megabill sweeping Biden’s priorities together, “a single, ambitious package combining physical and social investments hand in hand.” It’s the strongest sign yet that a growing number of liberals are done with trying to cut an infrastructure deal with Republicans that costs $800 billion at most and kicks other priorities down the road.