“We’re fast approaching” the time to “fish or cut bait,” Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, told CNN of the bipartisan group’s efforts.

How to pay for infrastructure

The challenge for the bipartisan group of lawmakers on infrastructure is that the White House holds a different view of how to finance the plan, drawing red lines on including any new user fees like indexing the gas tax to inflation or charging drivers of electric vehicles for using America’s roadways.

Republicans, meanwhile, have refused to allow any new tax increases to finance their plan. Democrats and Republicans have also engaged in a days-long discussion on how much some of their ideas for financing actually bring in.

Aides involved in the talks tell CNN that there has been a robust discussion about how much enforcing existing tax laws and forcing people to turn over unpaid money to the IRS could raise for the US government.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated it could raise approximately $60 billion, but the White House has argued that number could be in the hundreds of billions, a massive divide that underscores the challenges of coming to a deal at all. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a GOP negotiator, told reporters Wednesday that negotiators had decided to increase the number estimated for tax enforcement, but he did not say what that number was or if it was settled. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the minority whip, also told reporters this week that the White House and Republicans were not in agreement about how much money in unused Covid relief funds were left on the table and could be used to finance parts of infrastructure.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that the bipartisan negotiators are “chewing up” too much time. She said she’s concerned about “how much delay they keep putting into the process, when they recognize that’s not the whole infrastructure package. It is a subset, and right off the top, before the negotiations even began, the people involved acknowledged it was not going to solve the problems that we face on infrastructure.”

Added Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, “I’m certainly out of patience and we’re running out of time on infrastructure.”

Yet the Senate deal-making Democrats are urging patience.

“Some of the progressive members of my caucus have been saying that for weeks,” said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a close Biden ally. “I’ve reminded them repeatedly that in a 50-50 Senate, where several members said publicly they will not vote for reconciliation until we make our best efforts on infrastructure, I think we’re at our last best (chance) at a bipartisan infrastructure package.”

Manchin is one of those Democrats — and he’s refused to back a party-line approach to approve a much bigger package that includes expanding the social safety night.

“Well, you know me, I never give up,” Manchin said when asked if he’d endorse going the reconciliation route if the talks collapse.

Policing

The fragile state of infrastructure negotiations is mirrored in another one of Biden’s legislative priorities: legislation to overhaul the nation’s policing laws.

Bass told CNN on Wednesday afternoon there are still major issues that have to be resolved.

The California Democrat said she’s “hoping to talk to both senators again and see what where we get, that’s the bottom line. You know that things can come together very quickly at the last minute and that tends to be what happens, so that’s what I’m hoping for.”

Asked if she believed the prospect of getting a deal done was looking more precarious, Bass said, “I do, and that’s only because of time. I mean the question is, the Senate is going out for two weeks. Senator Scott has said June or bust, which I appreciated, I was glad he did that. So, the question will be what happens in the next 24 hours. I just don’t know.”

On Tuesday, Scott told CNN the group was “very, very close, but we’re not quite there,” adding, “we best have something” before the Senate leaves on Thursday.

Booker told reporters Wednesday that Thursday was shaping up to be a make-or-break day for the policing talks.

“Principles will have to decide,” he said when asked what would happen if there is no deal by Thursday.

‘I think today is pretty critical’

The repeated defeats are emboldening progressives to argue that the time for bipartisanship during the Biden administration is coming to an end. After six months and with the midterm campaign season just around the corner, some Democrats have argued they should be focusing more on what they can do alone.

“I think today is pretty critical,” Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana, said. Asked if he believed it was possible to get a deal after the recess, Tester said bluntly, “I think we just (have) run out of time.”