WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden aims to use a Michigan trip on Tuesday as the backdrop to try to build support for the social spending and infrastructure bills that have stalled in Congress amid infighting in his party.
The president plans to visit a union training center in Howell, which is in a historically conservative county that then-President Donald Trump won by 23 percentage points in 2020 and is currently represented by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a moderate Democrat.
Biden is expected to make the case that his proposals would help working families build a middle-class life and level the playing field so everyone has a fair shot, according to a White House official.
As moderate and progressive Democrats negotiate the size and scope of the social spending package, White House officials had hoped that traveling outside of Washington would focus public attention on the popular components of the bills — such as free community college and lowering child care costs — and away from the insider debate over the price tag that has consumed lawmakers for weeks.
"There's an awful lot that’s in both of these bills that everybody thinks they know, but they don’t know what's in them," Biden said Saturday. "When you go out and you test each of the individual elements in the bill ... over 70 percent of the American people are for them."
But focusing on specific policy items could come with its own risks as negotiations are in flux and little is known about what will be included in the final deal and just how expansive the package will actually be.
While Biden has acknowledged that the final bill will be significantly smaller than the $3.5 trillion progressives had hoped for, the White House has been reluctant to say what programs or spending it plans to cut from the president's original list of policy proposals in order to match a smaller price tag.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the president’s only "red lines" were that he "will not raise taxes for anyone making less than $400,000 a year and that he wants to give the middle class in this country some breathing room."
Before leaving Washington on Tuesday morning, Biden met with a group of moderate Democrats to continue discussions on the two bills. Reps. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia; Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher, both of Texas; and Lauren Underwood of Illinois participated in the meeting.
Slotkin joined Biden on his trip to her home state, and the two were expected to have a chance to discuss the ongoing negotiations.
A source close to Slotkin said she planned to tell Biden that the Democratic reconciliation bill needed to be "transformational and targeted" for her to vote for it.
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October 06, 2021 at 02:07AM
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Biden to make case for massive spending bill's policy, not price tag in Michigan - NBC News
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