Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said negotiations on President Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill were 90% done and that Senate Democrats could announce a final agreement Monday.
Inching toward the finish line, Pelosi said, “We have 90% of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made.”
House Speaker Pelosi confirmed Democrats are finishing work on President Biden’s top legislative priority, a spending bill intended to strengthen the nation’s social safety net and rollback the effects of climate change.
Once pegged at $3.5 trillion, the final bill is likely to come in around $2 trillion.
Speaker Pelosi said, “It is less than we had… was projected to begin with, but it’s still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America’s working families.”
President Biden hosted the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and a key moderate, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, at his Delaware home Sunday morning to hammer out the final agreement.
What likely stays: universal pre-k, child care and elder care funding. What’s likely out: free community college and Medicare expansion to cover dental, hearing and vision. What’s limited: the length of the child tax credit and paid family leave reduced from 12 weeks to 4.
Democrats, holding slim majorities in both houses of Congress, are trying to deliver the president a legislative “win” a year before the midterm elections.
President Biden leaves for key summit meetings with world allies in Europe on Thursday. Democrats hope to have this all wrapped up by then.
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