Feuding Democrats hint at compromise on Joe Biden’s agenda

The moderates have reportedly proposed a $US2 trillion counter offer to the $US3.5 trillion climate package.

Joe Biden departs the Brew Haha! cafe in Wilmington, Delaware, on Sunday. Picture: AFP

Progressive Democrats signalled on Sunday they were willing to compromise to get US President Joe Biden’s sweeping domestic agenda through congress, but a tough fight lay ahead to overcome deep party divisions.

The White House has scrambled to gain the support it needs among feuding Democrats for two spending packages that may well define the President’s legacy.

Some Republicans support the $US1.2 trillion ($1.65 trillion) infrastructure bill to rebuild the ­nation’s crumbling roads, bridges and waterways, but they remain in lockstep opposition to the second package, a $US3.5 trillion spending plan that would allocate more funds for education and childcare, expand health programs and promote clean energy.

Former president Donald Trump, who still wields considerable power within the Republican Party, blasted the spending plan in a statement. “The Democrat plan, if approved at any level, will push our Country towards socialism!” he said.

The dispute means Democrats, who narrowly control the Senate and House of Representatives, must unite to get Mr Biden’s giant Build Back Better proposal across the line – a heavy lift on Capitol Hill where last week’s game of chicken between moderates and liberals ended in stalemate. To maintain negotiating leverage, progressives are refusing to back the popular infrastructure bill until they are assured the Senate is a “yes” on the social spending deal.

With reports emerging that moderates have proposed a $US2 trillion counter-offer for that mega bill, leftist senator ­Bernie Sanders said that would be insufficient for historic legislation that could reshape the American economy. “But I accept that there’s going to have to be give and take,” he told ABC.

Pramila Jayapal, leader of the house progressives, conceded heading into the weekend that her camp was going to have to lower its topline figure. Speaking on CNN, she said there is “no number on the table yet that everyone has agreed to”, but that it would realistically land “somewhere between $US1.5 and $US3.5” trillion.

Compromise was clearly in the air, with one proposal gaining traction, according to Ms Jayapal and liberal congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to shorten the duration of funding for the legislation’s programs aimed at helping working families.

“One of the ideas that is out there is fully fund what we can fully fund, but maybe instead of doing it for 10 years, you fully fund it for five years,” Ms Ocasio-­Cortez told CBS.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had imposed a deadline of last week for passage of both spending bills, only to see congress blow past it with no resolution. In a Saturday letter she told Democrats that “more time was needed to reach our goal”, and was now eyeing October 31 as a new target.

But congress must address a high-stakes deadline before that: raising the US debt limit by October 18, when the nation will run out of money to pay its bills. Democrats say avoiding such a default is a top priority. Republicans have baulked at helping, however, prompting a fierce response from Mr Biden, who said it would be “unconscionable” for Republicans to refuse to raise the debt ceiling.

The White House, meanwhile, was holding firm to Mr Biden’s demand that the end result for his two spending packages, not the timing, was the focus. “We’re not using an artificial timeline,” Biden senior adviser Cedric Richmond told Fox News. “We’re concerned about delivery.”

Mr Biden will head to Michigan on Tuesday in an effort to unite public support behind the plan, the White House said, touting the goal of “investing in working families … by repealing tax giveaways to the rich”.

The legislative one-two punch is under most threat in the Senate, where two moderate Democrats including Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema have stood firm against what they describe as recklessly high spending targets. Senator Sinema blasted house progressives on Saturday for “inexcusable” brinkmanship, calling their refusal to support infrastructure until they get their way on the broader spending package “an ineffective stunt”.

Still, Democrats appeared to be slowly inching towards a historic deal. “It’ll be a grind,” former Barack Obama adviser David ­Axelrod tweeted, “but I bet Dems get there on both Bills.”

AFP