President Joe Biden urged Democrats to get behind his sweeping legislative packages and said he would press lawmakers over the phone Friday.
Biden said he would call lawmakers and answer questions once the packages had both passed. Some Democrats criticized the president for failing to press liberal lawmakers in the House to vote for his infrastructure bill before leaving for Europe last week.
“I’m asking every member of the House of Representatives to vote ‘yes’ on both these bills right now,” the president said during his remarks on the economy at the White House on Friday. “Send the infrastructure bill to my desk. Send the ‘Build Back Better’ bill to the Senate.”
ECONOMY BEATS EXPECTATIONS WITH 531,000 JOBS IN OCTOBER, UNEMPLOYMENT DECLINES TO 4.6%
The cost of the reconciliation bill isn’t clear, however, drawing concern from some centrist Democrats. On Thursday, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said Democrats were using “budget gimmicks” to obscure the true cost.
Outside analysts said the bill’s total cost could come in far above the $1.85 trillion estimate provided by the Biden administration and Democratic leaders. The price could reach $4 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
“If your No. 1 issue is the cost of living, your No. 1 priority should be to see Congress pass these bills,” Biden said. The Congressional Budget Office’s estimate could be weeks away, however.
Biden touted the drop in the unemployment rate to 4.6%, marking the lowest level since March 2020, when the coronavirus spread began and restrictions went into effect.
“Today, we’ve reached that rate two years before forecasters said it was possible,” the president said.
He added, “Passing these bills will say clearly to the American people, ‘We hear your voices. We’re going to invest in your hopes, helping secure a brighter future for yourself and your families, and make sure America wins the future in the process.'”
Last month’s unemployment rate did not fall for everyone. It stayed the same for black and Asian Americans and increased slightly for women and black men.
Biden’s new federal vaccine mandate, set to take effect in January next year, has come under fire amid criticism that it could affect the labor market.
“These requirements have broad public support, and they work,” Biden argued.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel slammed Biden’s economic policies Friday and said the mandates would lead to further job losses.
“After months of failed policies and bad jobs reports, the one person who does not deserve credit for creating jobs is Joe Biden,” McDaniel said in a statement. “After Biden and Democrats spent months paying Americans to stay home, Republican states led the way in lowering the unemployment rate and getting Americans back to work.”
McDaniel called Biden’s corporate mandate “unconstitutional” and said it threatened millions of workers’ jobs.
According to a September Washington Post-ABC News survey, 7 in 10 unvaccinated people would quit their jobs rather than comply with a vaccine mandate.
McDaniel said government spending had led to rising gas and grocery prices and pointed to a Republican sweep in elections this week to argue that Biden’s policies would hurt his party in next year’s midterm elections.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Americans are paying more for everything from gas to groceries, and Democrats are pushing through trillions in spending and a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans,” McDaniel said. “Voters soundly rejected Biden’s failed economic agenda at the ballot box this week and will do so again in 2022.”
