Biden sets $ 1.9 trillion to $ 2.2 trillion price range for social safety net bill on appeal with House progressives

President Biden told Progressive House Democrats in a virtual meeting on Monday that the price of the $ 3.5 trillion social safety net bill should drop, and he gave them a range of between $ 1.9 and $ 2.2 trillion, according to people familiar with the discussion.

The White House believes moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who think the price is too high at $ 3.5 trillion, might be willing to back the measure, called the Build Back Better Act, at that lower cost.

The bill would tackle climate change and extend social security net – it would help Americans babysit, provide a universal preschool, two free years of community college, and expand Medicare, among other things. House Democrats passed their bill in August without a single Republican vote.

According to a source, during the meeting, lawmakers discussed possible ways to reach that range, including shortening the length of some of the Build Back Better Act programs, rather than choosing fewer programs and funding them. entirely. Progressives hope that popular agendas will then be renewed across the board, as they are about to expire.

The source said the White House had raised resource testing as another way to cut costs, but lawmakers have raised concerns about the difficulty of testing resources for some programs.

A member who attended the meeting, however, told CBS News the call was “less about numbers and more priorities.” Lawmakers called the discussion “productive” and said Mr. Biden “reiterated his belief that it is important that we get the two bills through and that they are in fact one program – the Rebuild program. better”.

Another Democratic lawmaker present at the virtual meeting said Mr Biden had asked everyone to “lay out their priorities,” and said the president had expressed some frustration with Manchin and Sinema. “He is becoming more and more blunt about their pains,” the lawmaker said.

At the end, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Chair of the Progressive Caucus, agreed the meeting had been “productive” and thanked the president “for his leadership and for continuing to fight for his visionary Build Back Better Act that people across the country want, need, and deserve. “

But the fate of the social safety net bill – which will need to be passed in a budget process called reconciliation because it lacks the 60 votes normally needed to pass most laws in the Senate – and the bill more modest $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure law remains in limbo. . The Infrastructure Bill is a spending plan covering roads, highways, bridges, airports, ports and other traditional infrastructure, but also includes modern needs, such as charging stations for vehicles. electricity and increasing broadband access. He cleared the Senate in August with broad bipartisan support, but House progressives have said they will not support him until the Build Back Better law is also passed by the upper house.

The 50 Democratic Senators must vote for the Build Back Better Act to ensure its passage, as it has no GOP support. So far, he has 48 votes – Manchin and Sinema have refused to support him. It’s unclear exactly what Sinema would like to see cut, but Manchin said last week that his revenue for the measure was $ 1.5 trillion, or $ 2 trillion below the current price.

Manchin was asked on Tuesday about the range of $ 1.9 to $ 2.2 trillion raised by the president and told reporters: “I’m not excluding anything, but at the end of the day I want to make sure that we are strategic, we’re doing the right job and we’re not fundamentally adding more to the concerns we have right now. “

In an interview with “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan on Sunday, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat and member of the House Progressive Caucus, said the moderate Democratic senators had not negotiated.

“What we’re seeing here is the dynamic where the progressives try to skin this cat in nine different ways, but the moderates don’t really come to the table,” she said.

Alan He contributed reporting.