Democrats Come To Grips With Building Back Smaller

Democrats have spent months trying to pass a multitrillion-dollar expansion of government programs designed to help families, lift people out of poverty, broaden access to health insurance, provide free education, and fight the rising threat of climate change.

Their grand plans for an ambitious legislative package came to a crashing halt this week, however, after President Joe Biden made clear to lawmakers they would need to accept significant cuts to many of their priorities if the bill is to become law this year.

Simply put, Democrats lack the support in the evenly divided Senate to pass a bill they’ve touted all year. They’re now hoping to cut a deal among themselves, potentially as early as this week, on the contours of a slimmed-down package totaling approximately $2 trillion that they can point to as making substantial progress on Biden’s economic vision.

“Everyone is going to have to compromise if we are to find that legislative sweet spot that we can all get behind. Nobody will get everything they want,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a floor speech on Wednesday.