SCRANTON, Pa. — When Joe Biden began laying out his Build Back Better agenda as a presidential candidate, he chose Scranton to make the case. In a closing pitch to voters in the fall centered on the idea of “Scranton vs. Wall Street,” he argued that his administration would shift the economic playing field back in favor of Americans in places like his hometown.
Now Biden is traveling to his birthplace for the first time since he took office, using the symbolic venue to drive home the case for his agenda at a critical stage.
White House officials say that in an afternoon address after a marathon day of behind-the-scenes negotiations with key Democrats, Biden will draw a line from the experiences that shaped his values to the agenda he is pressing Democrats to help him enact today.
“The president is the inspirer. He is the closer. He is the convincer. He is the mediator-in-chief,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Tuesday after a meeting with Biden. “The president has been working incredibly hard to get everybody to a place where we can move this forward and finish this process.”
Democrats remain deeply divided over how large the package should be and over what exactly should be in it. A major climate proposal could be removed from the legislation, and Biden told progressive lawmakers Tuesday that the final bill would likely drop tuition-free community college and curtail child tax credits.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was pressed by NBC News on Tuesday about whether the White House and lawmakers would reach an agreement by the Oct. 31 deadline recently set by Democratic leaders.
Psaki played down the deadline, saying the White House did not propose it. “What our effort is and our focus is on is continuing to make progress. We are getting closer to an agreement on a path forward to deliver for the American people,” she said.
Biden’s hometown stop Wednesday will be followed by a prime-time town hall on CNN Thursday from Baltimore as the White House and outside allies intensify the closing pitch.
Building Back Together, the pro-Biden nonprofit advocacy group, is launching a million-dollar ad campaign in Scranton and other important swing-state television markets.
The campaign, building on a $15 million blitz for Biden’s plans, reinforces the populist case for his economic agenda, arguing that the proposal is “on the side of working families and seniors” and that it would be paid for by “making the wealthy pay the taxes that they owe.”
Even as it has taken a more urgent tone about the state of negotiations among Democrats, the White House has been wary of setting a firm end date or deadline for talks.
A senior administration official declined to characterize Wednesday’s event as a “closing argument,” but said it was an important opportunity for Biden to “root himself” back in his hometown at an important moment.
Another official said Biden would most likely continue to have meetings and calls Wednesday before he leaves for Scranton. He will also continue to make the case for his agenda in public through next week before he departs for a trip to Europe.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
