Flexible’s the word
White House has no time line on Joe’s agenda
The White House does not have a set time line for winning approval of President Biden’s domestic agenda, which faces deep divisions among congressional Democrats, a top adviser said on Sunday.
The administration wants to focus on keeping its priorities in the legislation, White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We don’t have a time frame on it,” Richmond said.
“This is just about delivering and making sure that we deliver both bills to the American people because it meets their needs. So we’re not using an artificial time line and we’re not concerned with process.”
Two packages are in play — a bipartisan $1 trillion bill to fix roads and bridges, expand broadband internet access and boost electric vehicles infrastructure, and a $3.5 trillion package that includes universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, a lower eligibility age for Medicare, expanded Medicare benefits and more.
Democratic leaders last week sought a vote on the smaller package, but House progressives are withholding their support until senators finalize the bigger “Build Back Better” package.
Biden put the smaller bill on hold Friday.
Moderate Democrats say the bigger package is too expensive, and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois said he was open to trimming the price tag.
“Let me tell you at the outset I support the $3.5 trillion. I believe that the elements of it have been stated over and over again. They’re good for this country and they’re needed by families and by our nation,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But I’m a realist, too.” He set Oct. 31 as a new target date for passing Biden’s agenda, although the House is out of session until Oct. 19.
Asked whether Biden would eliminate some programs or reduce how long they would be funded, Richmond skirted the question.
“Those decisions will be made in conjunction with members of Congress, but there is unity of purpose,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the holder of a crucial vote in the evenly divided Senate, has proposed some $2 trillion in cuts to the “Build Back Better” legislation, according to Politico.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Washington Democrat who is chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Sunday that Manchin was asking for way too much.
“That’s not going to happen,” she said, also on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Manchin’s proposed $1.5 trillion price tag is “too small to get our priorities in,” she said.
“It’s going to be somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5, and I think the White House is working on that right now,” she said. “What we want to deliver is child care, paid leave and climate change, housing.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had set last Monday as a deadline for passing the smaller infrastructure bill, and Biden on Friday sought to play down the significance of missing the target date.
“I’m telling you, we’re going to get this done,” he told reporters. “It doesn’t matter when. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in six minutes, six days or six weeks. We’re going to get it done.”
A lot is at stake for Biden as well as for the lefties who have been flexing their political muscles and the Democratic Party overall.
Infrastructure is a key goal in Biden’s presidency. For months, the White House has argued that the legislation is needed to create jobs and keep the country competitive in the 21st century.
The president also badly needs a political victory after the widely decried exit of U.S. troops from Afghanistan over the summer.
Progressives, meanwhile, need to demonstrate they’re not just idealists but also can get things accomplished when they have power.
With control of the White House and Congress, Democratic lawmakers as a whole hope to show the country they can achieve their goals. Failure to do so could prove disastrous when Americans return to the polls in next year’s midterm elections.
Republicans have been crowing over the Democratic infighting.
“What we’re seeing is like watching an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ ” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming told “Fox News Sunday.”