Back home in Scranton, Biden plugs his $2 trillion plan to revive U.S.
SCRANTON, Pa. — President Joe Biden returned to his birthplace Wednesday for the first time since taking office, declaring his multitrillion-dollar safety net and infrastructure packages would restore an America starving for investments in its workers, families and the environment.
The president scolded doubters who focus on divides among Democratic lawmakers that could jeopardize the cornerstone policies of his administration, and he acknowledged he has scaled back his ambitions in order to garner support. But his legislative efforts — now expected to be about $2 trillion and $1 trillion each — would still be an unprecedented attempt to expand social services for millions and tackle the rising threat of climate change as well as update roads and bridges.
“This has been declared dead on arrival from the moment I introduced it, but I think we’re going to surprise them because I think people are beginning to figure out what’s at stake,” Biden said.
“These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency” in the world, he said at Scranton’s Electric City Trolley Museum.
Biden and his Democratic Party are racing to seal agreement on the legislative package after laboring for months to bridge his once-sweeping $3.5 trillion vision preferred by progressives with a more limited focus that can win over party centrists. He has no Democratic votes to spare for passage in the closely divided Congress, and leaders want agreement by week’s end.
In the mix: At least $500 billion to confront climate change, $350 billion for child care subsidies and free pre-kindergarten, a new federal program for at least four weeks of paid family leave, a one-year extension of the $300 monthly child tax credit put in place during the COVID19 crisis, and funding for health care provided through the Affordable Care Act and Medicare.
Likely to be eliminated or shaved back: plans for tuition-free community college, a path to permanent legal status for certain immigrants in the U.S. and a clean energy plan that was the centerpiece of Biden’s strategy for fighting climate change.
“Nothing is decided until everything is decided,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus after a morning meeting of House Democrats. “We’re just trying to get it done.”
The Democrats appear ready to abandon what had been a loftier package in favor of a smaller, more workable proposal the party can unite around — all to be funded by tax hikes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, those earning more than $400,000 a year though those details are still being negotiated.