President Joe Biden continues negotiating with Democrats on a massive entitlement spending bill, even after acknowledging it will fall short of his initial $3.5 trillion price tag.
The president acknowledged last week he would fall short of his spending goal, after Senate moderates refused to drop their opposition.
“Look, it’s clear that it’s not going to be $3.5 trillion. So, the question is: How much of what is important do we get into the legislation?” Biden told reporters on Friday.
Biden will meet with House progressives and the Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen on Tuesday afternoon followed by a second meeting with a group of House moderates.
But the future of Biden’s agenda relies a lot on support from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).
The Biden administration’s 2022 fiscal year budget request, released Friday, introduced for the first time the term “birthing people” to effectively replace “mothers” in an unprecedented move which drew derision from many. https://t.co/Rhy089yK4z
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 11, 2021
The president will meet again with Sinema on Tuesday, according to reports and spoke with Manchin on the phone on Monday.
Manchin met with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday after the Vermont Senator picked a fight by publishing an op-ed in a Charleston Gazette-Mail.
Manchin fired back in a statement, criticizing the “self-declared Independent socialist” for trying to influence Democrat voters in his state.
“This isn’t the first time an out-of-stater has tried to tell West Virginians what is best for them despite having no relationship to our state,” he wrote.
https://t.co/iU96GLGzsT pic.twitter.com/ly944dr2dE
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) October 15, 2021
After their meeting, Manchin publicly appeared with Sanders and even posed for a photo to show that they were still talking.
Video: Just two buds heading home after meeting in the Capitol: pic.twitter.com/M4ZYIxdcdP
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 18, 2021
“We’re talking,” they both said.
“We’re going to make some progress,” Sanders said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.