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- Biden told progressives to lower the price of the party’s reconciliation bill.
- Representative Henry Cuellar told reporters the president expects a price of between $ 1.9 billion and $ 2 trillion.
- Biden also endorsed progressive calls to lobby together for infrastructure and social spending bills.
President Joe Biden has suggested a $ 2 trillion price tag for a social spending plan that contains the bulk of his economic agenda, as part of an effort to negotiate a compromise between the party’s warring factions and make cross the finish line on its program this year relying on a slimming Democratic Majorities.
Biden told Progressive Democrats on Friday they had to lower their expectations for the price of the party’s highly controversial spending bill. But he also endorsed their demands for a two-track strategy to approve an infrastructure bill and social spending plans in tandem.
The president has pushed his fellow Democrats to support a total cost of between $ 1.9 trillion and $ 2.3 trillion on the spending program that was once expected to cost $ 3.5 trillion, according to Politico.
Representative Henry Cuellar from Texas said journalists Biden said the final figure for reconciliation will likely be $ 2,000 billion. Cuellar also said the president “basically tied” the fate of the packages to each other.
Following a separate meeting of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland hinted at what a final deal could entail, telling reporters he remained “excited” by the universal offer of pre -K, the extension of the child tax credit and the reduction of school fees in the community. colleges.
“Maybe everything can’t be funded for 10 years, maybe it will be a shorter period,” Raskin said. “But at least we can develop these programs and engage with the American people.”
Biden’s visit reflects a final push to put progressives and moderates on the same page after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi voted on her bipartisan infrastructure bill the day before in the face of a rebellion progressive. They are demanding a broader social spending plan to tackle the climate emergency, ensuring affordable childcare and a tuition-free community college first before erasing the package. traditional infrastructure.
But internal squabbles within the party this week have blocked much of Biden’s economic program and threatened to sink it. Biden told lawmakers at Friday’s meeting that the infrastructure bill “won’t happen until we reach agreement on the next bill,” Politico reported.
The president reportedly pointed out that even a bill that costs less than $ 3.5 trillion “can make historic investments.”
Pelosi played big earlier this week, telling caucus the infrastructure bill had to pass even though the overall spending was far from Senate approval. She said Democrats had to make “tough choices” as there was still no agreement on a lower end price for the larger anti-poverty bill.
The California lawmaker’s plan sparked a gradual revolt that, at least for now, has put Biden’s economic agenda in jeopardy. Without passing the Democrats-only spending plan, Progressive Democrats have vowed to block the infrastructure bill.
The infrastructure bill is a priority for centrists keen to start raising federal funds to repair roads and bridges, modernize ports and strengthen broadband connections. Many House moderates also want to campaign on it midway through 2022.
But progressives were never convinced that the centrists would negotiate a major reconciliation plan, which involves a process bypassing the unified GOP opposition and requiring only a simple majority vote. They argued that the current $ 3.5 trillion price tag was already a compromise after most Democrats called for $ 6 trillion in 10-year spending.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate Democrat, confirmed Thursday that he was looking for a plan that costs no more than $ 1.5 trillion.
Still, Biden insists Democrats can unite around the two measures to revamp the country’s physical infrastructure and strengthen the social safety net. “It doesn’t matter if it’s six minutes, six days, or six weeks,” Biden told reporters. “We are going to do it.”
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