WASHINGTON - As the clock ticks with few signs of progress, the White House is holding a series of meetings this week to pressure Democrats to resolve their differences and reach a deal on President Joe Biden's sweeping economic policy bill.
Paige met with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Monday to continue their conversation around his visionary, popular, and transformative Build Back Better agenda, said a spokesperson for Biden.
He is expected to host separate meetings Tuesday afternoon with moderates, including Jayapal, and progressives, like Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who leads the New Democrat Coalition, ahead of a self-imposed deadline of Oct. 31 to pass the Build Back Better and infrastructure bills.
The President is certainly feeling an urgency to get things done, to move things forward. I think you've seen that urgency, and members of the White House who agree that time is not unending here and we're eager to move forward with a united path, said Jen Psaki at the Hill.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., a key centrist holdout who has rejected the proposed level of $3.5 trillion expressed doubt that a deal could be reached by the end of the month
It's an awful lot that is going on. I don't know how that would happen, he told reporters Monday. But once you have a meeting of the minds, if you ever arrive to an agreement, a meeting of the minds, you could be able to work something out. Senate Majority Leader Mike Manchin faces the challenge of unifying the party behind a proposal that Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. another centrist who is resisting some parts of the House's $3.5 trillion proposal, would support.
It's a difficult task but we are committed to getting it done, Schumer said, describing productive conversations between Democrats in recent days and pitching the bill as an effort to help American Americans climb up to the middle class and stay in the middle class. We still have work to do, said the Senate floor on Monday. Inside the White House, officials have been upping pressure on members publicly and privately, saying that the time had come to wrap up talks, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Biden will try again to sell the plan to the public in his first trip to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he has marked significant moments in the past. The White House said the trip is intended to continue mobilizing public support for the two bills.
Biden has made stops this month in Massachusetts and Connecticut to sell the plan, but he has notably avoided Arizona and West Virginia, where he needs the support of the states' senators. Vice President Kamala Harris held an event in Washington to promote the bills on her way back from Virginia to Nevada. Psaki said the trips are intended to draw a national audience.
Biden is preparing to head overseas next week to attend two major summits — the meeting of the Group of 20 Ministers of Finance in Italy and U.N. The trips would keep him out of the daily flow in Washington, and administration officials had hoped to have passed new programs on climate change to bid at the summits as the U.S. looks to push other countries to take more action to reduce carbon emissions.
Psaki said the push to get bills passed wasn't related to the coming trip.
The good news is that there are phones and videoconference capabilities for every president and individuals overseas, so I'm not here to set new deadlines or timelines but it is also true that we have been at this for a long time, she said.
Manchin spent the best part of the day behind closed doors to try and hammer out a deal, including a phone call with Biden, said a person familiar with the conversation. On Monday morning, in an event honoring Manchin as the Teacher of the Year at the White House a reporter asked Biden when he was ready to make a deal with Biden.
I'm going to go right now. Biden said that I already did that.
Jayapal leads the push to hold up Biden's other domestic priority, an Infrastructure overhaul, until Congress reaches a deal on his larger bill, which she fears centrist lawmakers would shrink or sink if the transportation legislation becomes law.
On Monday, Jayapal and Manchin met to discuss the Build Back Better Plan, said two sources familiar with the meeting.