Biden Team Pivots to Brokering Democratic Budget Bill Deal
- Next step for economic agenda is unifying House Democrats
- Progressives, moderates clash on vision for spending bill
President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One on June 29.
Photographer: Ken Cedeno/SipaPresident Joe Biden’s team is pivoting from saving a bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill from collapse to trying to unify House Democrats behind both that bill and a follow-on, multi-trillion dollar economic package expected to pass on a party-line vote.
White House counselor Steve Ricchetti met Tuesday with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and plans to reach out to other groups on Biden’s strategy to pass a $579 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill in tandem with a bigger, broader tax and social spending package. Progressives have yet to be sold on the substance of the first bill, which they complain lacks climate-change provisions, and differ on the size and scope of the second bill.