Under pressure, Democrats cut back spending
By Alexander Bolton - 10/20/21 06:17 PM EDT
Democratic lawmakers are swiftly cutting back their spending on the Build Back Better agenda after President Biden made clear to progressive lawmakers that the package will spend far less than they had hoped on key priorities.
Progressive and centrist Democrats alike say a new reality is setting in after weeks of stalemate over the shape and size of the social spending bill, which had also brought work on an infrastructure measure passed by the Senate to an impasse.
Now a new dawn is arising as centrists, progressives and a president with falling approval ratings looked into a potential political abyss.
“We are facing the reality that without all 50 Democrats we don’t get anything done. And demanding 100 percent of each member wants means we’ll end up with 100 percent of nothing,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a prominent progressive.
Many liberal lawmakers had hoped that Biden and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) would be able to convince holdout centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to support a package of $3 trillion.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/577681-under-pressure-democrats-cut-back-spending
