Biden urges Democratic unity on rebuilding infrastructure, expanding social programs
JENNIFER HABERKORN AND ELI STOKOLS Los Angeles Times
July 14, 2021 03:43 PM
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday tried to solidify a fragile coalition of Democrats to make progress on his massive infrastructure proposal that would both rebuild the nation’s roads and enact a broad array of social programs, such as new Medicare benefits, child-care assistance and immigration reform.
Biden visited Capitol Hill a day after a group of Democrats said their social program bill, which Democrats plan to enact on a strict party-line vote, would total $3.5 trillion.
Added to the approximately $600 billion earmarked for “hard infrastructure” that Biden hopes to enact on a bipartisan basis, the whole package would amount to $4.1 trillion in new spending over a decade.
“We’re going to get this done,” Biden said as he arrived for the Senate Democrats’ lunch in the Capitol.
Democrats have to walk a tightrope as they try to push the bills ahead in the coming weeks. Biden’s challenge, with slim margin for error, will be preserving support from progressives, who originally wanted $6 trillion in new spending, and centrists, who wanted a smaller price tag and an assurance that it is entirely paid for.
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