McConnell says 'real chance' Biden, Dems could work with GOP on 'bipartisan' infrastructure bill

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that there is a "real chance" some Democrats and the White House could work with Republicans to pass a "bipartisan" infrastructure bill, a shift from other comments he made this week that Republicans are "100%" focused on stopping President Biden. 

McConnell made the comments in Hopkinsville, Ky., and they were streamed live by FOX 17 Nashville. McConnell was asked about the state of play on infrastructure legislation and the $4 trillion-plus in spending the Biden administration is pushing for through its American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan. 

"There's a group of 10 of my members… who put together a $600 billion proposal. Roads, bridges, ports, water lines, broadband," McConnell said. "There are 10 or so Democrats who look at it the same way. So this is a proposal that could pass on a bipartisan basis."

He added: "I think the administration will probably think of this as plan B. In other words if they can't pass their $4.1 trillion bill, which they'll have to do Democrats-only, if they're not able to get everybody behind the massive proposal, then I think we've got a real chance to do something important for the country on a bipartisan basis." 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks during a news conference at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky., Monday, April 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Those comments follow a response earlier this week that the minority leader gave to a question about drama unfolding in the House surrounding Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. 

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Cheney, the House GOP conference chair, has come under increasingly heavy fire for her regular barbs against former President Donald Trump and his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Now, most Republicans believe that she will be removed from her role as the third-ranking Republican in the House next week. 

McConnell backed Cheney when she survived an earlier attempt to remove her from her position in February. But he sidestepped a question about her status on Tuesday, saying instead that Senate Republicans are "100%" focused on "stopping this new administration."

"What we have in the United States Senate is total unity from Susan Collins to Ted Cruz in opposition to what the new Biden administration is doing to this country," McConnell also said, sidestepping another question on the percentage of Republicans who believe the falsehood that the presidential election was not legitimate. 

Despite the fact that McConnell made those statements in the context of dodging uncomfortable questions about internal GOP dynamics, Democrats nevertheless hammered the minority leader, suggesting he is acting in bad faith. 

"I guess the contrast for people to consider is 100% of our focus is on delivering relief to the American people," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. 

"Mitch McConnell just admitted that 100 percent of his focus is on obstruction. And with the filibuster, he can exercise a veto over the will of the majority," Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., tweeted. "We can't keep letting one person who's hell-bent on standing in the way of progress also stand in the way of democracy."

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"Looks like McConnell’s team updated his talking points from '100% focused on stopping this administration,'" Democratic National Committee rapid response director Ammar Moussa said Thursday, in light of the new comments. 

McConnell, despite apparently softening his stance on Republicans' opposition to Biden, did blame Democrats for the current acrimony in Congress Thursday, citing their efforts to pass massive spending bills with little effort to consult Republicans. 

"Regretfully the bipartisanship is not on display this year," McConnell said, referencing the several bipartisan coronavirus relief bills passed in 2020. "And the principal reason for that is I think what the new administration and the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate are doing are wildly out of proportion to what we need at this particular juncture."

"Now [Biden] wants to spend $4 trillion more on top of what we've already done, which he suggests is related to infrastructure," McConnell continued, before saying that there's only a little more than $600 billion that could "usefully" be spent by Congress on infrastructure. 

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Indeed, a Fox News analysis found that the president's proposal spends well under half of its money on things that fall under the definition of infrastructure. 

"This is not something that I or do I think any of my Republican colleagues are prepared to support," McConnell said of the president's plan. 

McConnell continued to say that he hopes eventually the Biden administration will move in a more moderate direction and that his "focus" is on steering it in that direction – not on stopping it. 

"I'm not the majority leader, I'm barely not the majority leader – we've got a 50-50 Senate," McConnell said. "And I'm still hoping the administration will pivot to a more centrist position and that's where I'm spending my time and focus." 

Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.