Half its original size, Biden’s big plan in race to the finish
Half its WASHINGTON — original size, President Joe Biden’s big domestic policy plan is being pulled apart and reconfigured as Democrats edge closer to satisfying their most reluctant colleagues and finishing what’s now about a $1.75 trillion package.
How to pay for it all remained deeply in flux Tuesday, with a proposed billionaires’ tax running into criticism as cumber- some or worse. That’s forcing difficult reductions, if not the outright elimination, of policy priorities — from paid family leave to child care to dental, vision and hearing aid benefits for seniors.
The once hefty climate change strategies are losing some punch, too, focusing away from punitive measures on polluters in a shift toward instead rewarding clean energy incentives.
All told, Biden’s package remains a substantial under- taking — and could still top $2 trillion in perhaps the largest effort of its kind from Congress in decades. But it’s far slimmer than the president and his party first envisioned.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers in a caucus meeting they were on the verge of “something major, transformative, historic and bigger than anything else” ever attempted in Congress, according to a person who requested ano- nymity to share her private remarks.
“We know that we are close,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, after a meeting with Biden at the White House. “And let me be explicitly clear: Our footprints and fingerprints are on this.”
However, vast differences among Democrats remain over basic contours of the sweeping proposal and the tax revenue to pay for it. As Biden pushes for an agreement before he departs for global summits later this week, pressure is mounting on holdout Democrats — Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
From the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden still hoped to have a deal in hand to show foreign leaders the U.S. government was performing effectively on climate change and other major issues. But she acknowledged that might not happen, forcing him to keep working on the package from afar.
She warned about failure as opposed to compromise
“The alternative to what is being negotiated is not the original package,” she said. “It is nothing.”
More lawmakers journeyed to the White House for negotiations on Tuesday and emerged upbeat that the end product would be substantial, despite the changes and reductions being forced on them by Manchin and Sinema.