President Joe Biden on Thursday will make the case for a significantly scaled-back version of his massive economic plan to expand the social safety net hours before departing for his second major foreign trip as president. The $1.75 trillion proposal focuses on care for families, addressing the climate crisis, expanding access to health care, lowering costs for the middle class and tax reforms. The President on Thursday morning headed to Capitol Hill to pitch his framework to the House Democratic Caucus and will later deliver remarks from the White House to make his case to the American people. His agenda still hangs in the balance and faces an uncertain fate in Congress. Progressive House Democrats remain skeptical of the plan and want to see the full legislative text and are threatening to hold their votes for the bipartisan infrastructure package until that text is released. The new plan makes major concessions and does not have several key planks that Biden had initially proposed, including paid family and medical leave, prescription drug pricing provisions, free community college and vision or dental Medicaid coverage. Here’s what is included in the plan: Children and caregiving Combating the climate crisis Health care Lowering costs for middle class Tax reforms After months of negotiations and concessions that resulted in Biden’s initial proposal of $3.5 trillion being cut in half, the White House expressed confidence on Thursday morning that this new framework would have enough support to pass both the House and the Senate. “This will be the mean the most transformative investment in children and caregiving in generations, the largest effort to combat climate change in history, a historic tax cut for tens of millions of middle-class families and the biggest expansion of affordable health care in a decade,” a senior administration official said Thursday. The official continued: “And it is entirely paid for by rewarding work, not wealth, and ensuring that the super wealthy and corporations pay their fair share and can’t cheat every honest American on their tax bills.” This story has been updated with additional information about the framework.
