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Joe Biden

Biden at CNN town hall: Medicare expansion, free community college likely out of social safety-net package

  • Biden participated in a 90-minute town hall broadcast on CNN to field questions on his economic agenda.
  • The forum comes at a pivotal moment for Biden, who is working to satisfy progressive and moderate jockeying over the final price tag of the social spending package.
  • But time is running out for the president, who is set to travel overseas before the end of the month.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said Thursday he believes he's close to a deal with Democrats on multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure and social spending plans, the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, but confirmed it will require cutting key progressive priorities. 

Biden pushed a scaled-down social safety net and climate package during a town hall broadcast on CNN of around $2 trillion, down from an original price tag of $3.5 trillion.

"I think so," Biden said when asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper whether he will get a deal on his "Build Back Better" agenda finalized, adding that it boils down to solving about "four or five" unresolved issues.

But throughout the 90-minute forum, Biden acknowledged roadblocks to several of his signature proposals posed by two moderate Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. He repeatedly singled them out by name, lifting the curtain on private negotiations that have dragged on for months.

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