By Trevor Hunnicutt and Richard Cowan
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $1.75 trillion economic and climate change plan that he said unified Democrats then was quickly rebuffed by members of his own party.
“We have a historic economic framework” that will create jobs and make the United States more competitive, Biden said after a last-minute trip to Congress to convince reluctant progressives to support the spending plan. He then departed for a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 countries in Italy.
He left behind a U.S. Congress bubbling with conflicts and unanswered questions, but one that seemed to be inching towards votes on his economic agenda, perhaps within days.
How, exactly, it could come together remained a puzzle.
It was unclear whether moderate Democrats who want a related bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed first are on board. Some progressive Democrats will only vote for the infrastructure bill with the more complicated spending measure, and multiple lawmakers would like to see changes to Biden’s framework.
