President Biden has postponed plans to travel to Chicago on Wednesday so he can continue negotiating with lawmakers to get his multi-trillion spending plans across the finish line, a White House official said.
“In meetings and calls over the weekend and through today, President Biden has been engaging with members of Congress on the path forward for the Build Back Better Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal,” the official said.
“He will now remain at the White House tomorrow to continue working on advancing these two pieces of legislation to create jobs, grow the economy, and make investments in families, rather than failed giveaways to the rich and big corporations,” the official added.
Mr. Biden was scheduled to travel to Chicago to highlight businesses in the city that are enforcing vaccine requirements for businesses.
Instead, he will remain in Washington so he can be available for Democratic lawmakers to facilitate the passage of his infrastructure bill and a larger reconciliation proposal that would expand the social safety net.
He has held a slew of meetings with Democratic lawmakers to help negotiate passing the bills.
A vote is scheduled for Thursday on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, but progressive lawmakers have threatened to sink the legislation unless the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill also moves forward.
Separately, Congress needs to pass a funding bill to avoid a government shutdown by Oct. 1.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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