President Joe Biden met with a large group of liberal House Democrats on Monday to perform what could be an impossible task: convincing them to lower the cost of a long-sought social welfare spending package meant to create a broad array of new government programs.
Democrats have insisted the package must spend a staggering $3.5 trillion to fund free preschool, free community college, expanded Medicare benefits, paid family and medical leave, child tax credits, green energy policies, and much more.
But party centrists Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have slammed the brakes on the plan in the Senate, calling for a lower price and major policy changes in exchange for their critically needed support.
SCHUMER CALLS ON DIVIDED DEMOCRATS TO REACH SPENDING DEAL ‘IN DAYS, NOT WEEKS’
Biden will meet virtually with House Democrats, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday. House Democrats, scattered for a two-week recess, will meet to determine how to pass his economic package, recognizing “that this package is going to be smaller than originally proposed,” according to Psaki.
But how low will Democrats go?
For weeks, Democrats have rejected the idea of spending a penny less than $3.5 trillion.
Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal told the Washington Examiner her caucus had initially hoped to spend even more than $3.5 trillion to cover what she views as the desperate needs of people trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. She never envisioned spending any less.
“Can we deliver care economy, child care, long-term care, healthcare?” Jayapal said. “We want to deliver these things for people.”
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent and socialist, reminded a talk show host on Sunday that the initial cost of his spending plan was $6 trillion, and he lowered it to compromise with centrists.
“The $6 trillion that I had originally proposed was probably too little,” Sanders told ABC News on Sunday. “The $3.5 trillion should be a minimum. But I accept there’s going to have to be give and take.”
However, Sanders said Biden’s pitch of a $2 trillion compromise wouldn’t pass muster with liberals.
“No,” Sanders said flatly. “Not enough.”
To shave $1.5 trillion from the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion plan means cutting some of the new programs the party has a once-in-a-generation chance to pass into law.
Manchin proposed cutting the measure by using a process called means testing, which would make new programs available only to the neediest rather than to everyone.
But Sanders rejected big cuts, no matter how they are achieved.
“What the president is saying is that what we are trying to do is for the working families of this country, for the children, for the elderly,” Sanders said. “We are trying to pass the most consequential piece of legislation since the Great Depression.”
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged on Monday that Democrats will have a difficult time finding a compromise, but he did not advocate for $2 trillion — or any limit.
“It will require sacrifice compromise and finding common ground,” Schumer said. “Nobody is going to get everything they want.”
Schumer told lawmakers Monday he wants them to come up with a deal in “days, not weeks” to ensure the legislation is ready for consideration by an Oct. 31 deadline.
Democrats have decided to link the measure to a critical bipartisan infrastructure bill, a cornerstone of the Biden agenda. The $1.2 trillion bill has already passed the Senate, and liberal House Democrats are holding back their votes until they get a vote on the social welfare spending package.
It’s not clear how much sway Biden will have over liberals, who make up the majority of the Democratic caucus.
Jayapal, whose caucus comprises 95 Democrats, said she won’t support Manchin’s $1.5 trillion top-line cost and is sending fundraising emails declaring her plans to resist his effort to shrink the bill.
“Cutting President Biden’s popular Build Back Better Act by $2 trillion would mean cutting long-overdue investments in paid leave, childcare, health care, climate action, housing, and education,” Jayapal told supporters in an email on Monday. “Slashing the investments that working people, families, and our communities need by $2 trillion is not going to happen.”
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Much of the work will be up to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat known for her ability to muscle even the most reluctant caucus members to get behind legislation to achieve major party victories.
She sent party lawmakers a memo late Monday, reminding them that Biden “indicated” during an in-person visit to the Capitol with Democrats last week “we would be working with a lower topline number, and decisions must therefore be made regarding the size and scope of the reconciliation bill.”
