Biden prepares to scale back lofty goals as signature spending plan
under threat
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[October 01, 2021]
By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden
and his senior Democratic allies in Congress are preparing to lower
their ambitions for a signature legislative achievement on their top
social priorities.
Faced with increasingly stiff odds of passing their $3.5 trillion
social-spending proposal, Biden and his aides are trying to suss out
what narrower proposal could unite an ideologically fractured Democratic
caucus of lawmakers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Biden regards his "Build Back Better" agenda, including spending more on
healthcare, education and climate change, as key to his legacy and to
securing victory for Democrats in the coming midterm elections and
beyond.
A $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the wider spending package that
funds social and environmental initiatives fulfill promises Biden made
as a presidential candidate, but they have come to encapsulate a divide
in his Democratic Party.
Some moderates are eager to pass the infrastructure piece but are wary
of the bigger bill's expense, while left-leaning progressives are
withholding support for the roads and bridges bill without guarantees
their health, climate and education priorities will be addressed, too.
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Biden and his aides are seeking to find middle ground.
They have engaged in a frequent talks this week with Senators Kyrsten
Sinema and Joe Manchin, moderates who have expressed concerns about the
size of Biden's $3.5 trillion package.
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters that the president was
working to bring lawmakers along in an "ongoing negotiation," but she
said the legislators were "not quite there yet."
"His objective is to try to get them there," she said.
The talks have been aimed at finding what amount and type of spending
would be amenable to more conservative Democrats. Manchin, a moderate
Democrat from West Virginia, said on Thursday that his top line was $1.5
trillion, a much smaller number that would require steep cuts to the
plan and could jeopardize the entire legislative effort.
Manchin agrees with many of the tax increases, including rolling back
Trump-era tax cuts, but would like to use the excess revenue to pay down
deficit, not fund new programs.
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![](../images/100121PIX/news_g11.jpg)
President Joe Biden speaks as he tours the facilities of the
Flatirons Campus Laboratories and Offices of the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Arvada, Colorado, U.S. September 14,
2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis
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Sinema told the president that she does not support
the $3.5 trillion proposal both because of its size and the tax
increases used to pay for the package, sources told Reuters.
DEMANDS FROM PROGRESSIVES
But Biden also needs to appease the left wing of his party.
Progressives have vowed to oppose the $1 trillion infrastructure
bill, due for a vote in the House on Thursday, until the larger bill
funding the president's social priorities is also ready.
"The core of his agenda is this; what he ran on is this," said
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of progressive group Our
Revolution. "We have leverage and the president needs to twist some
arms here to get it done."
Biden canceled a planned trip to Chicago on Wednesday to cajole
lawmakers in the nation's capital, and he has used the powerful
backdrop of the Oval Office to court reluctant legislators.
As those talks have failed to produce a breakthrough, the stakes
remained high for a president whose approval ratings have sagged
after a difficult summer including a messy Afghanistan withdrawal,
economic woes and ongoing COVID-19 fears.
The White House has been pushing back on concerns among members
facing re-election in conservative-leaning areas that passing a
mammoth bill financed by taxes on the rich and corporations would
alienate voters.
Democrats' narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and
Senate will be on the line in 2022 elections.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional
reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Jeff Mason and
Cynthia Osterman)
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