Biden to announce new social spending framework expected to win support of all Democrats
By Tyler Pager, and and Sean Sullivan
Today at 5:54 a.m. EDT
President Biden plans to announce Thursday a revised framework for his social spending plan that he expects will gain the support of all Democrats, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation, marking a potential breakthrough moment after months of lengthy negotiations and stalled talks.
The White House plans to detail specific policies it expects to pass Congress after weeks of whittling down Biden’s agenda, according to one of the people. Democrats on Capitol Hill were preparing written details of the revamped for proposal for release on Thursday, according to the second person.
The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plans on the record. The White House declined to comment.
Biden will address House Democrats Thursday morning before delivering remarks from the White House about the plan. Biden’s speech comes ahead of his planned trip to Rome later in the day to begin a pair of international summits.
The specifics of what the president would announce were not immediately clear, nor was it clear whether he would be prepared to announce the support of key Democratic holdouts. But Biden recently told congressional Democrats that he thought he could secure a deal for a spending plan between $1.75 trillion and $1.9 trillion.
Biden and congressional leaders for weeks have said they are working on a revised package to bring the topline spending total down from the initial $3.5 trillion package they proposed earlier this year. The point of the negotiations has been to win the votes of key Democratic centrists concerned about runaway spending, without alienating libereals whose support is also crucial.
The centrists have also voiced concerns about imposing new taxes that would be used to pay for the plan. Democrats were still trying Wednesday to hash out a tax structure that could be approved by their narrow majorities. Republicans have united against the Democratic plan.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Wednesday that the House Rules Committee would hold a key procedural hearing on Thursday, a move that would for lawmakers to eventually bring the measure to the chamber floor.
A breakthrough in the talks could clear the way for passage of a companion measure to invest in the nation’s roads, bridges and other public works.
That bipartisan infrastructure bill has already passed the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House. But liberal House members have vowed not to sign off until they have a satisfactory agreement on the social spending plan.
It was not immediately clear whether Biden’s forthcoming announcement would clinch enough liberal support to pave the way for quick passage of the infrastructure plan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-to-announce-democratic-agreement-on-social-spending-deal/2021/10/28/2781863c-37d3-11ec-91dc-551d44733e2d_story.html
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