Biden Expected To Announce Social Spending Framework
Are Democrats about to reconcile on reconciliation? President Biden hopes so.
The President will meet with House Democrats at 9:00 this morning, where, according to the Washington Post, he will announce “a revised framework for his social spending plan that he expects will gain the support of all Democrats” — something that seemed unlikely as recently as last night. At 11:30, the President will deliver remarks from the White House, and an hour later, he’ll be on his way to Rome.
Unfortunately, this reconciliation package still is not getting the vetting and debate it requires. It’s being rushed to meet what appear be political deadlines. As reported by the New York Times, “As they hunt for revenue to pay for their sprawling spending bill and try to unite a fractured caucus, Democrats are attempting to rewrite the United States tax code in a matter of days, proposing the kind of sweeping changes to how America taxes businesses and individuals that would normally take months or years to enact.”
Politico says Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) “agreed to a general framework but have not yet committed to voting on a final bill.” In addition, “many liberals are balking” and “are again vowing to block Biden’s infrastructure package ahead of the Oct. 31 highway program deadline. … At least 30 liberals say they’re willing to vote against infrastructure until they see an ironclad commitment from the other side of the Capitol to pass the reconciliation bill.”
Democrats “are a lot closer to a deal this time than they were during Biden’s last Hill visit a month ago,” says Politico. “But the assurances that House progressives have sought in order to vote for [infrastructure] had not materialized as of this morning.”
Punchbowl: Biden’s “main message this morning…seems to be this: the Build Back Better negotiations are continuing and a deal is close. But House Democrats should vote for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill now and trust him to deliver on the larger social spending package later.”
The big question on this busy morning: Will they?