President Joe Biden told the nation’s mayors Friday there was an immediate need to pass his Build Back Better social spending bill, in whatever form that may now take.
The president, in remarks delivered in person at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting, said that the group knows “what it means to solve real problems” and touted a number of senior administration officials with past mayoral experience, including Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“We’ve got so much we can do with this legislation now,” Biden stated, before outlining how his proposal would direct money toward climate programs, education expansion, and more. “We still face tremendous challenges though, but together, we’ve proven that we can get big things done in this country.”
“We’re falling further and further behind the curve, but we can fix that problem. We can do this and more on healthcare, nutrition, a host of other issues, and folks, here’s the point: We can do it without increasing inflation or the deficit,” the president said. “It’s entirely paid for, every single penny, and not a single person making less than $400,000 a year will pay a single additional penny in federal taxes. Not a single penny.”
Biden closed by saying the administration “can tackle all these challenges, just like we did with the [American Rescue Plan], the infrastructure law, and the fight against COVID, but we can’t do it without you.”
“You know, when it gets down to whether the garbage gets collected or someone is safe in the streets, this isn’t partisan. It’s practical. You understand the cost,” he added. “We need the voice of mayors telling the stories of what their community needs and the impact we’re making on people’s lives or not.”
Biden’s spending bill stalled late last year after centrist West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced his opposition, effectively killing the legislation in its current form.
The president and Democratic leaders have now shifted to trying to salvage programs from the $2 trillion legislation that they might be able to pass. The White House said Friday that it expected to use reconciliation to pass even a shrunken Build Back Better on a partisan basis.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch his entire speech below.
