Biden met with Republican senator leading the party’s infrastructure team but it doesn’t seem like they reached an agreement on a bipartisan bill
2.18pm BST
New claims for jobless benefits hit a new pandemic-era low in the US last week, marking the fifth consecutive week that the number has declined, according to new data released this morning.
The AP reports:
The Labor Department said Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 385,000, down 20,000 from the week before. The number of weekly applications for unemployment aid, which generally reflects the pace of layoffs, has fallen steadily all year, though it remains high by historical standards.
The decline in applications reflects a swift rebound in economic growth and the job market’s steady recovery from the coronavirus recession. More Americans are venturing out to shop, travel, dine out and congregate at entertainment venues. All that renewed spending has led companies to seek new workers.
2.02pm BST
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Joe Biden met yesterday with the Republican senator who is leading the party’s infrastructure team, but it does not seem like the two reached any kind of agreement on a bipartisan bill.
Capito briefed the other five Senate Republicans in her negotiating group — JOHN BARRASSO (Wyo.), ROY BLUNT (Mo.), MIKE CRAPO (Idaho), PAT TOOMEY (Pa.) and ROGER WICKER (Miss.) — on Wednesday night. Per three people familiar, Biden wants $1 trillion in new spending and is sticking to his guns on corporate tax hikes being part of the pay-fors. …
Republicans weren’t happy, to say the least. Biden, they have said publicly, told them just a few weeks ago in an Oval Office meeting that baseline spending — i.e., money that would be spent under current policy — could be included in the total. In their latest $928 billion infrastructure proposal, they had put forward only $257 billion in new spending, while the White House’s last number was $1.7 trillion.