Joe Biden conceded on Friday that the final version of his sweeping social policy and climate change initiative – often referred to as the $3.5tn reconciliation bill – would not be $3.5tn.
“We’re not going to get $3.5tn. We’ll get less than that,” Biden said, during an event at the Capitol Child Development Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
“But we’re gonna get it, and we’re gonna come back and get the rest.”
The White House and Democratic leaders are racing to trim the bill to win the support of centrist holdouts, senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, without whom the measure cannot pass. Both have balked at the top-line figure, but infuriated their colleagues by not providing more specifics on what they will and will not support in the bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently acknowledged the reality during a press conference earlier this week….
