Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) is pressing President Joe Biden not to stray too far from the original $3.5 trillion price tag for the sweeping reconciliation bill containing his top policies on social benefits.
During an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Jayapal said that she had told Biden his newly proposed range of $1.9 trillion to $2.3 trillion amid negotiations with moderate Democrats was “too low.”
“And I said that I would really like to be closer to three,” Jayapal told the AP.
However, the Democrat said she wasn’t “drawing any red lines” in their discussions.
“We’re going to continue to figure out where we can go,” she said.
Biden floated the trimmed-down price tag after moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a major roadblock to passing the reconciliation bill, declared last week that his top line was $1.5 trillion. However, Manchin indicated on Tuesday that he was open to increasing the price tag to the range of $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has also said that the reconciliation package would be cut down, telling rank-and-file Democrats in a “Dear Colleague” letter on Thursday that the legislation will be “smaller” but “still transformative.”
