At inflection point: Biden calls for compromise on social spending plan

United States President
Joe Biden unveiled a new and revised social safety net framework Thursday a day
before he leaves for the twin global summits — G20 and COP26. Biden spoke to
House Democrats in a closed-door meeting attempting to convince then to roll
with the new plan that leaves out two critical aspects of the original plan —
paid family leave and efforts to lower prices of prescription drugs.

Also Read | Joe Biden unveils $1.75 trillion plan to ‘change lives of millions’

“We are at an
inflection point…The rest of the world wonders how we can function,” Biden said
at the closed-door meeting according to a source familiar with the
developments, reports NBC News.

If President Biden does
manage to get the bill passed along with the $550 billion infrastructure plan,
the US Congress will have enacted $5 trillion in spending within 10 months,
marking a record for domestic spending in the country.

Also Read | Biden gears up for global summits as domestic situation becomes pessimistic

“I don’t think it’s
hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be
determined by what happens in the next week,” Biden is said to have told
Democrats during the meeting. “No one got everything they wanted, including me.
But that’s what compromise is. That’s consensus. And that’s what I ran on.”

Also Read | Paid family leave falls out of Joe Biden bill as tempers rise

While President Biden’s
revised $1.75 trillion plan waters down the original $3.5 trillion request, it
does include priorities such as universal preschool and childcare as well as
spending for climate change. The plan will depend on taxes imposed on the super-rich.

House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif, is reported to have told fellow Democrats that Biden “has been
a better friend to House Democrats than any other president”. She has appealed
to her caucus to vote on the $550 billion infrastructure bill Thursday before
Biden leaves for Rome to attend the G20 Summit. “When the president gets off
that plane, we want him to have a vote of confidence from this Congress,”
Pelosi was quoted to have said.