The president’s trip comes as Democrats circle in on a deal to advance two bills carrying a scaled-back version of his domestic policy priorities
President Biden will travel to his childhood hometown, Scranton, Pa., on Wednesday to press the case for an economic, environmental and social policy agenda that congressional Democrats are whittling down in hopes of securing an agreement to pass it into law this fall. The visit comes as Mr. Biden conceded that key elements of his proposal would most likely be dropped or substantially pared back, allowing them to fit in a measure much smaller than the initial $3.5 trillion plan that Democrats had sketched out over the summer. In a meeting at the White House on Tuesday, the president reiterated that the overall price tag would be about $2 trillion and suggested that it could be as low as $1.75 trillion, said two people familiar with the private discussion who disclosed details on condition of anonymity. They also cautioned that the details were still in flux. In recent days, Mr. Biden had proposed spending $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion over 10 years. During his visit to Scranton, Mr. Biden will give a speech at the Electric City Trolley Museum, where he will reflect on his working-class upbringing and how it influenced his values and the policies he has pursued in office. Mr. Biden is brokering negotiations between moderate and progressive Democrats over how to scale back his plans for climate change, education, child care, paid leave, home care for older and disabled Americans and a range of efforts to combat poverty, which are all bundled in a bill party leaders hope to pass along party lines in the weeks to come.
