![GOP senators "encouraged" after meeting with Biden on infrastructure](https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/05/13/b6e089ac-4045-4247-bb97-1075b2667c41/thumbnail/1200x630/5083aba822fad856d13f6ae4733f985c/gettyimages-1232869358.jpg)
GOP senators "encouraged" after meeting with Biden on infrastructure
CBSN
Washington — Much of Washington was focused this week on a closed-door meeting of House Republicans to oust one of its leaders and on President Biden's confab with the four top congressional leaders. But an Oval Office gathering on Thursday was perhaps the most critical event of the week, in terms of setting the capital's agenda for the next few months.
Six Republican senators — West Virginia's Shelley Moore Capito, Missouri's Roy Blunt, Wyoming's John Barrasso, Idaho's Mike Crapo, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey and Mississippi's Roger Wicker — met with President Biden at the White House on Thursday afternoon to discuss a potential compromise on federal infrastructure spending. The six were invited because they're the top Republicans on committees overseeing spending, infrastructure, or transportation issues. The lawmakers said they left the Oval Office "encouraged" about the path forward, and said negotiations would continue. The congenial meeting seemed to be an indication that, despite significant divisions in Congress and concerns about Mr. Biden's multi-trillion dollar legislative agenda, it may still be possible to salvage a bipartisan agreement on some issues.![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214202746.jpg)
Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
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Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
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It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.