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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden on Saturday acknowledged the frustrations as Democrats scramble to save a scaled-down version of his $ 3.5 trillion government overhaul plan and save a public works bill related after frantic negotiations failed to reach an agreement.
“Everyone is frustrated, it’s part of being in government, of being frustrated. “ Biden told reporters before leaving the White House for a weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. He is committed to “work like hell” to adopt the two pillars of its national agenda, but refrained from setting a new deadline.
On Friday, the president traveled to Capitol Hill for a private meeting with House Democrats, which partly boosted the morale of the disjointed caucus of lawmakers. According to lawmakers in the room, he discussed a price tag of $ 1.9 trillion to over $ 2 trillion for the biggest package that would expand the country’s social safety net.
The White House and its allies in Congress are ready for extended negotiations. Biden said he would travel across the country soon to promote the legislation and he acknowledged that discussions in Washington had become too focused on the billions of new spending and taxes in the bill.
He pledged to do more to educate the public about the plan’s new and expanded agendas, which he says have the support of the vast majority of the electorate.
“I will try to sell what I think the American people will buy”, Biden said on Saturday, adding, “I believe when the American people are aware of what’s in it, we will.”
The president said he believed the legislation would be enacted with “plenty of time to change the tax code for people next year.”
It’s a pivotal time for Biden and the party. His approval ratings have plummeted and Democrats are restless, eager to keep his election promise to rebuild the country. His ideas go beyond road infrastructure and bridges to provide dental, vision and hearing care for the elderly, a free preschool, major efforts to fight climate change, and other investments that would affect countless American lives. .
Holdout’s Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia dashed hopes for a quick compromise on a framework when he refused to budge Thursday night on his demands for a smaller overall package, around $ 1.5 trillion.
Without a broader deal, prospects for a vote on the public works bill have stalled, with progressives refusing to commit until senators reach an agreement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Told her colleagues that “it takes more time” because they shape the larger whole.
On Friday night, the House passed a 30-day measure to keep transportation programs running during the deadlock, essentially setting a new deadline for talks, October 31. The Senate approved it without debate in a brief Saturday session, to end the leave of more than 3,500 federal transportation workers, a byproduct of the political stalemate. Biden signed it that evening.
Pelosi, keeping his promise to the centrists, had insisted earlier on Friday that there would be a “Vote today” on the $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill that’s popular but caught up in the debate over Biden’s larger measure. But with Progressive Democrats refusing to support this thinner roads and bridges bill unless progress is made on the president’s big bill, Pelosi was unwilling to call for a vote.
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