US President Joe Biden suffered a setback on Thursday as the House of Representatives abandoned plans to vote on an infrastructure bill, with progressives calling for a separate $1.75 trillion plan for climate measures, preschools and other social initiatives did. To consider his call for more time.
Biden on Thursday sought to unify his party behind the climate and social spending plan with a personal appeal, and on Thursday pressed for a vote on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, adding yet another on his agenda. is extra. was the main issue. He expressed hope that the roadmap would be prepared on a large scale. Progressive House Democrats convinced to support the infrastructure bill, but their insistence that both moves together prompted House leaders to drop a planned vote left Biden empty-handed.
“We have a historic economic structure” that will create jobs and make the United States more competitive, Biden said after a last-minute visit to Congress to garner the support of progressives. He then left for the Group of 20 countries and the Global Climate Dialogue Leaders’ Summit.
He left behind a US Congress that was beset with conflicts and unanswered questions, but it looked like his economic agenda was headed for votes, perhaps in a matter of days.
How, exactly, how it can come together remains an enigma.” Dozens of our members insist on linking the two bills and vote on just one until they are voted together. Can. Can,” said Representative Pramila Jayapal, Leader of the House Progressives in a statement.
The battle over the more than $2.75 trillion in spending that will shape the US economy will take place in the coming days with Biden, who has been heavily involved in negotiations thousands of miles away. He will not return to Washington until Wednesday.
In a meeting with House Democrats on Thursday, Biden requested his support, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“I need your help; I want your vote,” the person quoted Biden as saying. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say
That the House and Senate (democratic) majority and my presidency will be determined by the events of next week. “
The White House said Biden’s agenda is still on track, even though he is moving through Congress at a slower pace than the president.
“We are confident that we will soon pass both the Build Back Better Act and the bipartisan infrastructure deal,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. and social spending paid by companies and the wealthy. He vowed to withdraw from Republican tax-cutting, including the 2017 tax cuts under his predecessor Donald Trump.
The president had hoped to reach an agreement ahead of the Rome G20 summit, where a global minimum tax would be high on the agenda, and a climate summit in Glasgow, where Biden is expected to deliver the message that the United States is in the fight. Is. . came back. Global warming.
In his White House remarks, Biden acknowledged, “Not everyone got everything they wanted, not even me.” “but that’s it
There is consent. That consensus. And that’s what I ran on.”
former President Barack Obama expressed a similar sentiment.
“The Build Back Better Framework doesn’t include everything the president proposed and some had hoped for. But that is the nature of progress in a democracy,” Obama said, calling the plan “a giant leap.”
The massive spending plan introduced Thursday would be paid for by repealing some of the tax exemptions passed under Trump and by imposing corporate stock buybacks and surcharges on the earnings of the wealthiest Americans, the White House said.
Other top agenda items in the framework include $555 billion for climate initiatives and six years of pre-school funding.
Several groups, including labor unions, welcomed the plan. “The reconciliation framework is a worker’s victory: support for child care, home care, clean energy jobs, health care, tax fairness, immigration reform and worker organizing,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler.
But the plan doesn’t include paid family leave or taxes on billionaires. Some influential lobby groups and the head of the constituency were angered by the absence of the Biden administration’s promises.
“We are outraged that the initial framework does not reduce drug prices,” AARP, an elderly advocacy organization, said in a statement. The absence of paid leave, the Democrats noted, left the United States as the only wealthy country and one. There are some countries in the world that do not provide paid maternity leave to a woman.
Some Republicans support the infrastructure measure, but a majority of lawmakers in that party oppose both bills, and Biden could risk losing only three votes in the House.
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