US Congress votes on Biden’s giant investment plans on Friday

US Congress votes on Biden’s giant investment plans on Friday

The House of Representatives will convene at 0800 (1200 GMT) to vote on the president’s two billionaire packages to “rebuild” America, Democratic leaders said Thursday night.

A “historic” and “transformative” project, Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House spokeswoman, said earlier.

Pressured by the negative results of Tuesday’s local elections, Biden’s party mates in Congress struggled Thursday to agree, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised, “We will approve these two plans. “

Time is running out. The struggles between the left wing and the more moderate of Biden’s party threatened a victory that the president needs to revitalize his term. “There is urgency,” Jean-Pierre had repeated.

Most Americans accept Biden’s plans, polls show, and a Moody’s study released Thursday estimates they could create 1.5 million jobs in 10 years.

But Biden, who during the presidential campaign boasted of his negotiating skills thanks to his long career as a senator, has encountered struggles within his party and sees his approval ratings plummet.

Before his tour of the G20 and COP26, the president had already visited the Capitol twice to accelerate the approval of his two star projects.

First, a plan to renovate the country’s dilapidated roads, bridges, and transportation. The $ 1.2 trillion package – the equivalent of Spain’s GDP – has the support of Democrats and some Republicans.

The other plan, aimed at social and climate measures, called “Rebuild Better”, would cut the costs of daycare centers and invest $ 550 billion to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

But his efforts did not bear fruit.

Returning from Europe, the visibly impatient president urged his troops to step up: “Democrats have never been so close to finalizing and approving” these plans, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer responded Thursday.

But their fate depends on a Democrat who, for the moment, refuses to support them, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Due to the weak Democratic majority in the Senate, this legislator has virtually veto power over these bills.

On Thursday morning he reiterated his concerns about the impact on US public debt and inflation.

In his state, one of the poorest in the United States, “people are terrified by the increase in the price of gasoline, food and public services,” he said on CNN.

It is a way of denouncing the excessive spending of his party, which is accused of not having known how to take the pulse of the country, to the point of having lost control of Virginia on Tuesday, a state in which Biden had easily imposed himself. in the 2020 presidential elections.

The elections in Virginia were considered like a dress rehearsal for next voting.

The country will hold midterm legislative elections in November 2022.

Biden’s party faces the possibility of losing control of both houses, making it even more difficult to pass any major reform.

Source From: Ambito

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