WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and his top aides scrambled Thursday to break a deadlock between House and Senate Democrats in what could be a last-ditch effort to save a key piece of his domestic political agenda.
Biden spent the day at the White House out of public view making calls to Democratic leaders and other members of Congress as staff members went in and out of the Oval Office to update him on talks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. The White House was taking the situation "hour by hour," and Biden had cleared his schedule to focus on the negotiations, she said.
"We are working towards winning a vote tonight. We have several hours left in the day," Psaki said Thursday afternoon, referring to the day's deadline as "self-imposed."
Biden is at risk of losing momentum on the $550 billion infrastructure bill, along with a wider $3.5 billion social spending package. Both were central campaign promises, and they are the focus of his domestic policy agenda. With time running out on the legislative calendar for Biden's first year, White House officials have acknowledged that they are at a pivotal moment, with their domestic agenda likely to face even more hurdles next year, when members of Congress shift attention to their re-election bids.
The infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate last month, is opposed by dozens of progressive Democratic in the House, who say they want progress on the separate $3.5 trillion measure to fund a range of social safety net programs. But the larger spending bill lacked the 50 votes it needed in the Senate, with Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona coming out in opposition.
White House officials said Biden has made significant efforts in recent days to win support from Manchin and Sinema, who met with him separately at the White House on Tuesday for the second time in a week. Top White House officials also met with Sinema on the Hill on Wednesday, while Biden met at the White House that afternoon with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Fellow Democrats have criticized Biden for not doing more to put pressure on the senators, such as accusing them of threatening to topple his and the party's agendas. Psaki has said Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate, does not believe that would be effective.
"I don't know if you've met many senators. They're not going to be forced to do anything that's not in their interest," Psaki said Wednesday.
"His view is we've made some progress. You've seen some members come down. You've seen some members come up. You've seen active negotiations," she said.
White House officials in recent days have said that despite the apparent impasse, they believe progress is being made behind the scenes as the various sides continue to talk. Biden canceled a trip to Chicago on Wednesday in part because he felt negotiations were making progress and he needed to stay in Washington to them keep on track, a White House official said.
While infrastructure discussions remained at an impasse, Biden got a small win Thursday when the Senate and the House passed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
