| President Biden spent the weekend reassuring Republicans that passage of the bipartisan infrastructure package was not tied to passing a reconciliation bill. Now, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants more. McConnell on Monday made his long-awaited infrastructure play, calling on Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to follow his lead and delink support for the infrastructure deal worth $1.2 trillion over eight years from a sweeping Democratic-only blueprint. He added that if they don’t, Biden’s reversal was nothing but a “hollow gesture.” “Unless Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi walk-back their threats that they will refuse to send the president a bipartisan infrastructure bill unless they also separately pass trillions of dollars for unrelated tax hikes, wasteful spending, and Green New Deal socialism, then President Biden’s walk-back of his veto threat would be a hollow gesture,” McConnell said in a statement. “The President cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process” (The Hill). The comments represented the first from the GOP leader since Biden last week did a full walk-back of his remarks, which were only furthered by the two Democratic leaders. In addition, McConnell himself has yet to throw his support behind the bill, which adds consternation to the whole infrastructure process, though at least 11 Senate Republicans were part of the Group of 21 negotiations for the bipartisan bill. “I haven’t decided yet,” McConnell said during a press conference in Louisville, Ky. “But I’ve certainly encouraged our members to talk to the Democrats. … We need to get a score, so we need to see whether the proposal is credibly paid for” (The Hill). The bottom line: Despite Biden’s comments over the weekend, this bill has a long way to go to pass. Expect many more twists and turns in the coming weeks, especially with the Senate out of town until July 9, leaving lawmakers to do little but talk until then. The Associated Press: Biden working to get infrastructure package back on track. CNN: Moderate House Democrats are uneasy over Pelosi's infrastructure strategy. As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes, the framework legislation put together by 21 senators presents a conundrum for the Kentucky Republican. Some within the GOP believe it would be shrewd for McConnell and Republicans to work with the president to pass the bill in an attempt to show that the party is not simply one of obstructionists who are trying to derail Biden’s agenda. However, doing so could have political consequences, as McConnell’s top priority is flipping the Senate next year. Namely, it would put feathers in the caps of a number of key Senate Democrats who are up for reelection in 2022, including Sens. Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Raphael Warnock (Ga.). The Hill: Biden, Pelosi on collision course. Biden previewed the main points he wants the public and members of Congress to hear in an op-ed published by Yahoo News on Monday evening. In it, the president stressed infrastructure needs, potential new construction jobs and his intention to get his climate change agenda into law using the budget reconciliation process later this year. The president today will be in La Crosse, Wis., to promote the infrastructure framework he is urging Congress to pass while visiting the community’s public transit center. The White House says he’ll venture from Washington this summer to encourage support from the public and lawmakers who remain skeptical of a bipartisan measure for roads, bridges, airports, ports, passenger rail and broadband. Traveling with Biden today will be Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, both of them eager to talk up the infrastructure needs in rural economies and the agriculture sector, the White House said last week. Biden’s attention to his domestic agenda continues on Wednesday with a White House event that assembles Cabinet members and governors to discuss the heat wave in the Pacific Northwest and risks of drought and wildfires in the West. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), whose state has experienced record high temperatures this month, plans to participate by phone because COVID-19 restrictions are still in place there. On Friday, the president, whose job approval hovers close to 53 percent, returns to economic issues to tout the release by the Labor Department of June’s employment statistics. On the eve of the Fourth of July on Saturday, Biden will be in Traverse City, Mich., with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to applaud U.S. vaccination rates, although the nation overall will fall short of the 70 percent goal he set for inoculation of adults with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by Independence Day. Michigan has a vaccination rate of 46.6 percent and Whitmer took a pounding from Republicans in her state and from former President Trump for mask mandates and other pandemic restrictions she imposed. The Washington Post: Biden tries to move beyond flubbed rollout of infrastructure deal. The Associated Press: Biden taking bipartisan infrastructure deal on the road. More in Congress: The House, following in the Senate’s footsteps, passed two bills on Monday that would boost scientific research in an effort to make the U.S. more competitive with China (The Hill). … Pelosi is “seriously considering” including a Republican among her appointments to the new select committee to probe investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, an aide said Monday. Under the resolution to create the panel, Pelosi would appoint eight members, while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) would name five. The House is expected to vote Wednesday on the resolution to create the committee (The Hill). 
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