(Bloomberg) -- Republican lawmakers led by Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell called on the White House to scale back the $2.25 trillion infrastructure-and-tax package President Joe Biden unveiled last month as a prescription for long-term economic recovery.

McConnell and fellow GOP senators pressed for stripping the American Jobs program of all but the more traditional infrastructure elements that have featured in past bipartisan packages. Republicans have also opposed the corporate tax increases aimed at financing the Biden proposals.

Biden and his cabinet have argued that a broad definition of infrastructure is appropriate given the nation’s trenchant challenges with inequality and modern-day economic needs such as money for broadband and expanded federal research and development.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has targeted passage of Biden’s so-called American Jobs Plan in her chamber by July 4. Biden is expected to unveil another, social-program focused plan in coming weeks.

Republicans Call for Slimmed-Down Infrastructure Plan (1:34 p.m.)

Republican senators called for Biden to negotiate with them on a scaled-back version of his infrastructure-led package, demanding a tightened focus on traditional items such as roads and bridges rather than the administration’s more expansive proposal.

“There is bipartisan appetite for smart infrastructure bills that are built the right way,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “There isn’t much appetite for using the word infrastructure to justify a colossal -- colossal -- multitrillion-dollar slush fund for unrelated bad ideas.”

McConnell said only 6% in Biden’s plan is for traditional infrastructure, and hammered it for the “extensive” job losses and economic damage that would result from the tax hikes. He singled out discussion of enhancing the tax on estates, saying the current framework allows for businesses and farms to be handed down to the next generation.

Two other Republican senators, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, also said on Bloomberg Television Tuesday they could support an increase in spending on traditional infrastructure.

“I’m hoping that we can narrow the focus,” said Capito. She said she’s working with Democrats in committees on chunks of a potential deal, including highways, airports, water projects and broadband.

“Those are the core areas of agreement. We’re going to hopefully convince the administration we need to stick to those to get that bipartisan support,” she said.

Toomey, who opposes Biden’s broader package and especially his call for corporate tax hikes to pay for it, said he could be convinced that some more money should be spent on things like roads and bridges.

“That can be pro-growth,” he said.

So far, Republicans have yet to coalesce around a particular offer or how to pay for it, however.

The effort to encourage a trimmed-back program is reminiscent of similar tactics in 2009, when the Obama administration sought bipartisan support for an economic recovery package. In the end, no GOP House lawmakers voted for the $787 billion bill, while only three Republicans backed it in the Senate. -- Steve Dennis

White House Fights GOP Tax Attack With Small-Business Outreach (11 a.m.)

The White House is pushing back against Republican criticism of Biden’s infrastructure-and-tax plan with an event Tuesday highlighting benefits for smaller businesses.

The virtual event with thousands of small-business owners late Tuesday afternoon represents the latest step in a coordinated public-relations campaign to sell the administration’s “American Jobs Plan.”

Top aides planned to highlight the way the president’s plan would boost federal contracting opportunities for small companies, help minority-owned manufacturing firms access capital and create a network of small-business incubators across the country. -- Nancy Cook

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.