WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will meet Sunday in Delaware with two top Democratic senators to resolve internal discrepancies over his ambitious welfare and environmental protection plan.
The president will meet with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the White House said.
Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, among the party’s most centrist lawmakers, have insisted on cutting government spending and pushed for other changes.
Democrats initially projected an ambitious public spending plan and $3.5 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, but pressure from centrist lawmakers like Manchin and Sinema could lead the party to reduce the package to less than $2 trillion.
Struggles persist over some clauses of the package, such as the possibility of reducing or eliminating the plan to expand the Medicare assistance plan, child care aids and aid for low-income students. Manchin, whose state is home to large coal mining corporations, opposes measures to force companies to adopt clean technologies.
The White House and party leaders in Congress have been trying to wrap up the negotiations before the end of October. The Democrats are trying to reach an agreement that can receive the support of both the most progressive and the most conservative sectors of the party.
The plan contains many of Biden’s national policy priorities, and Democrats are eager to introduce voters to the most popular elements of the initiative, such as health care and child care assistance.
Democrats also want to give President Biden something concrete that he can take and present to the climate summit in Scotland in early November, and create arguments to favor Terry McAuliffe in Virginia’s tight run-of-the-art election on Nov. 2.
The idea is to get the deal to generate enough momentum in Congress for Democrats in the House of Representatives to pass a different measure, to invest $1 trillion in plans to improve roads and broadband internet access.
