Biden races to Congress to save agenda ahead of Europe trip By Reuters

© Reuters. The Why does foreign exchange trading require an account of 250,000 yuan?U.S Capitol seen at night from Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, U.S., October 24, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/File Photo

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will push for his party and the nation to coalesce around a trimmed-down domestic spending plan on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Biden is expected to sketch the outlines of a deal that he thinks can unite the Democratic Party, which narrowly controls the legislature but has struggled to agree to a deal.

He plans to travel to Capitol Hill for a 9 a.m. (1300 GMT) meeting with House Democrats before delivering a speech on the status of his back-and-forth negotiations over a bill he hopes will invest more than $1.5 trillion in new social safety net programs over the coming decade.

Then, he plans to deliver public remarks at 11:30 a.m. (1530 GMT) at the White House before he departs for Europe to meet with world leaders.

U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who chairs the House of Representatives Democratic Conference, said he understood Biden would discuss a planned framework that appeared to have support from all Democratic U.S. senators, clearing a major hurdle.

The plan would encompass "a historic investment in job creation ... children and families ... protecting the planet ... and expanding access to healthcare," he told MSNBC.

Still, it remains unclear whether Biden has the votes needed to pass either the social spending into law or a companion bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Liberals have vowed to block the latter measure until they see a social spending bill that invests sufficiently in healthcare, education and climate change mitigation, among other priorities. Some Republicans support the infrastructure measure but most lawmakers in that party oppose both bills.

CLIMATE SUMMIT

Even if a framework is adopted in coming days, as Democrats hope, Biden will likely arrive to a meeting of G20 leaders in Rome and then the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, without final legislation in hand even as the United States seeks to ask other countries to adopt similar initiatives.

Democrats have a slight majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and only narrowly control the 50-50 split Senate, with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote, meaning legislation must win support across a wide swath of progressives and more moderate members of the party.

The White House on Wednesday said Biden had "flexibility" for his departure and has said he can continue to work with lawmakers on his agenda amid his trip, including from moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema, who opposed Biden's initial plans.

"Details matter. On climate, they're life+death. So to do my job, I need more than an IOU. Not too much to ask," U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) late Wednesday.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told CNN plans for paid family leave have been dropped and that $555 billion would be included for clean energy.

Jeffries give no details on the framework but said he would support the deal given the urgent need for climate action even if the paid leave provision is dropped.

"If it turns out that the votes don't exist for it in the Senate, we will live to fight another day," he said.

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