President Joe Biden traveled to Capitol Hill on Thursday morning, to meet with House Democrats before he leaves for Europe.
The president planned to urge the leftist “progressive” caucus to vote for the infrastructure deal, according to reports, with a promise that he will work out a deal on his nearly two trillion entitlement bill later.
That’s proposal faces long odds among the left, who continue blocking the infrastructure deal until they get the more expensive entitlement bill through Congress.
Biden will later address the country about his failure to reach a deal with his own party and will outline a path forward.
The president’s revised proposal for Democrats will spend $1.75 trillion, according to details shared by the White House.
The proposal asks for $400 billion on free childcare and preschool, $150 billion on elder care, $200 billion on the child tax credit and earned income tax credit, and $555 billion on climate change priorities and clean energy subsidies. Biden would also spend $130 billion on expanding Obamacare and $35 billion to add hearing coverage to Medicare.
To pay for the bill, Biden proposes a number of options, including a 15 percent corporate minimum tax, a stock buybacks tax, and various other attempts to close tax loopholes for the wealthy. The White House claims the new proposals could raise “up to a total of” $1.995 trillion.
“It’s a good day,” Biden said when asked by reporters about his message to the Democrat left as he arrived on Capitol Hill.
“Everybody’s on board,” he said.
Despite months of negotiations, however, not everybody in Biden’s party is on board.
Since June 24, Biden told Congress he would not sign his newly negotiated infrastructure deal until he had a second multi-trillion domestic entitlement bill on his desk. His infamous “two track” strategy soured the infrastructure deal, stalling it in Congress as empowered Democrat leftists made demands and held the deal hostage.
House leftist leaders met Wednesday and decided they would not budge on the infrastructure bill until they had full legislative text of the entitlement bill.
“I just don’t want to see us make the mistake of not having the legislative text,” House Progressive Caucus leader Rep. Pramila Jayapal told the New York Times. “Let’s do them both together. Let’s get it right. Let’s make sure there are no misunderstandings, because there have been too many misunderstandings.”
Moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) continue resisting Biden’s proposed multi-trillion entitlement bill as well as his dramatic tax hikes to pay for it.
The president leaves for Rome, Italy later Thursday afternoon where he will meet with Pope Francis and attend a G-20 summit of world leaders. He will later travel to Glasgow, Scotland for a global warming summit, as Breitbart News reported.
Update — 10:44 A.M. EST: Biden warns Congressional Democrats that the fate of his proposals could determine whether they keep power on the Hill and in the White House.