On The Money: White House sees paths forward on infrastructure despite stalled talks | Biden battles Dem divides | FBI seizes bitcoin ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline

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THE BIG DEAL—White House sees paths forward on infrastructure despite stalled negotiations: The White House on Monday said it sees multiple paths forward to passing infrastructure legislation, even as talks have stalled between President Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the top Republican negotiator in the Senate.

The background: 

• Biden is expected to speak with Capito before leaving for Europe on Wednesday for a week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. 
• The two last spoke on Friday, after which the administration said Biden was underwhelmed by the senator’s latest proposal. 

“The time is not unlimited here … nor is the president’s willingness to compromise,” Psaki said at a briefing Monday. “He made clear that the proposal the offer put on the table didn’t meet his own bar. But we’re very open to where the discussion goes from here.”

Psaki signaled three potential paths for moving forward on an infrastructure bill:

• One path would be finding an agreement with Capito, who has met with Biden multiple times and led the GOP side of negotiations.
• Psaki also pointed to other Republican and Democratic lawmakers who have been holding talks of their own on the contours of an infrastructure package, including Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
• The third way forward, Psaki said, would be to throw the administration’s weight behind The INVEST in America Act, a bill being marked up this week by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has significant overlap with Biden’s American Jobs Plan.

The Hill’s Brett Samuels breaks it down here.

Biden’s internal battles: While the president is struggling to find common ground across the aisle, he’s also facing challenges getting everyone on his team on the same page. 

• Progressives are getting frustrated with Biden’s ongoing talks with Republicans, and want the White House to start to pursue an infrastructure package that could pass without GOP support through the budget reconciliation process. 
• But some Democrats have raised concerns about aspects of the tax proposals Biden has floated to pay for infrastructure legislation, so reaching a deal won’t necessarily be smooth sailing even if the president isn’t focused on attracting Republican support.

The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda explains here.

LEADING THE DAY

Yellen: No signs yet of unsustainable wage increases: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that she doesn’t see signs of inflation rising at a dangerous rate but warned that “prolonged excess demand” could trigger unsustainable wage increases.

In a Sunday interview with The New York Times, Yellen said she expected the recent jump in inflation to ease once the U.S. economy hits its post-pandemic stride later this year. Price and wage growth have both jumped in 2021 after falling sharply in 2020, both largely due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“We don’t want a situation of prolonged excess demand in the economy that leads to wage and price pressures that build and become endemic,” Yellen said. “Looking at wage increases, you can have a wage price spiral, so you need to be careful.”

She added, however, “I do not see that happening now.” I have more here.

From the weekend—G-7 commits to global minimum tax of at least 15 percent: Top finance officials in the Group of Seven (G-7) on Saturday announced their commitment to push for a global minimum tax of at least 15 percent in international tax negotiations, a rate advocated by the Biden administration.

G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors said in a statement following a meeting in London that they strongly support the multilateral negotiations “to address the tax challenges arising from globalisation and the digitalisation of the economy and to adopt a global minimum tax.”

Why the US wants it: The Biden administration sees a deal on a global minimum tax as a way to help prevent U.S. companies from becoming less competitive if the U.S. increases its corporate taxes. President Biden has proposed paying for his infrastructure plan in part by raising the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and by raising a U.S. tax on corporations’ foreign earnings to 21 percent.

What comes next: Implementation could take some time once an agreement is finalized, since countries would need to update their domestic laws and possibly also their tax treaties.

ON TAP TOMORROW:

• IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on the agency’s fiscal 2022 budget at 10 a.m.
• Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on President Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget proposal at 11 a.m.
• Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo testifies before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the Commerce Department’s fiscal 2022 budget request at 2 p.m.
• A Senate Banking subcommittee holds a hearing on connecting rural communities through transit at 2:15 p.m.

Further out: Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu speaks at the Consumer Bankers Association’s CBA LIVE Summit in Orlando on August 18.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Google agreed to pay a fine of $270 million and make changes to its online ad tools in a settlement with French regulators announced Monday.
• U.S. investigators have recovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency that Colonial Pipeline paid hackers last month to end a ransomware attack on its systems.
• Facebook won’t take a cut of revenue from creators using paid features on its platform until 2023, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday while knocking Apple over its commission fees. 
• Airline industry executives on Monday called on the U.S. and the United Kingdom to reopen transatlantic travel.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Climate change is emerging as a sticking point in infrastructure negotiations, as proposals from President Biden and Republicans remain disparate on actions to address the warming planet. 
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) will sign legislation on Monday barring businesses and government agencies from requiring proof that someone has been vaccinated against the coronavirus before providing services.