'Got to get everybody in the tent': Dems power toward narrowed deal

Less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden delivered a blunt assessment on how to prune the party’s signature legislative package, many Democrats’ attitudes have suddenly shifted toward acceptance.

Senior House Democrats on Wednesday emerged from a closed-door meeting with their members, their first since Oct. 1, optimistic they could secure an agreement on Biden’s mammoth $2 trillion social spending package — perhaps by the end of the week.

Many final decisions remain in limbo, and Democrats have already begun a fresh round of bargaining as they attempt to preserve priorities that Biden on Tuesday suggested could be stripped from the bill. Still, many Democrats appear to be coming to terms with the more narrow bill, prioritizing the goal to get something across the finish line.

“I think members are in a position where they want to get something done, they understand you’ve got to get everybody in the tent because we have very close margins. So I think they’ll accommodate that,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters as he left the meeting.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that it is “very possible” they would reach an agreement this week.

“We continue to be on schedule,” she said. “We have a goal, we have milestones, and we have met every milestone along the way in our timetable. And we will be where we need to be to reach our goal.”

Speaking privately to the caucus Wednesday morning, Pelosi assured members that Biden remained focused on family needs. She specifically stressed the importance of child care and paid leave, telling members: "I’ve changed more diapers than anyone in this room," per a person familiar with her remarks.

That rosy outlook among both Democratic leaders and the rank-and-file is a significant improvement over 19 days ago, when internal feuding scuttled the party’s plans to deliver a key piece of Biden’s agenda and left many House lawmakers feeling dejected as they left town for a briefly interrupted two-week recess.

“There’s an anticipation of some deep cuts," said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), adding that many final decisions have not been made. “I think the major parts will remain in place, maybe not quite as strong, maybe not quite as long."

Still, any agreement would require full cooperation from Democrats in both chambers, including centrists Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who have continued to resist supporting the deal.

“I’m not being rude but there’s too much going on,” Manchin said, demurring on talking details. “Let’s see if there’s a pathway forward.”

Not every House Democrat is on board with Biden’s proposed cutbacks, either, and some have publicly vowed to keep fighting. Several senior Democratic lawmakers groused about potentially losing some of their top priorities, after Biden suggested extending the child tax credit by only one year and entirely nixing the restoration of certain deductions for state and local taxes. He also suggested cuts to programs such as housing assistance and climate.

“A one-year extension is a mistake, and I think that it is very harmful to the country,” said House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who has championed a bill to make the child tax credit permanent.

House Financial Service Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told reporters she’s been “working very hard” to preserve housing programs in the package: “I am putting a lot of heat on, to say, this is the basis for everything.”

But Waters also acknowledged cuts would need to be made, saying "adjustments are going to have to be made at every level" as they land on a total cost of the final package.

One contentious issue for many Democrats continues to be SALT, the cap on deducting state and local taxes imposed by Republicans in their 2017 tax law, after Biden suggested it could be out of the final bill.

A pair of Northeast Democrats, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), raised the issue in caucus. Suozzi, who has made restoring the deductions his red line in negotiations, told the room, “No SALT, no deal.”

Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) agreed, saying as he left the caucus meeting that SALT "has to be on the table." Members of that panel huddled privately later on Wednesday to discuss a slew of unresolved tax issues.

Biden delivered many of his proposed changes to a group of rank-and-file Democrats at a pair of meetings on Tuesday. But most Democrats said they had yet to see the formal proposal.

Pelosi suggested some of Biden’s floated cuts to the bill — such as scaling back paid leave programs or tuition-free community college — were not final.

“News to me,” Pelosi said when asked about those programs being scaled back. “That’s not a decision.”

Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle contributed to this report.

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