Biden to highlight jobs and families plan ahead of looming Senate fight

President Biden on Wednesday will highlight the need for investments in human infrastructure and clean energy, which are elements of a massive jobs and families plan that Democrats expect to pass through reconciliation.

Biden will tour McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Ill., and then underline specific aspects of his Build Back Better agenda that were not included in the bipartisan infrastructure deal announced last month, a White House official said. 

Biden in his remarks at the college will call for providing four additional years of public education to every student through increasing Pell Grants and job training investments. He will also stress that his plan would boost child care and ensure that no middle-class family pays more than 7 percent of their income on care for children 5 years old and younger. 

The president will also highlight investments in the child care workforce, expanded child tax credits, an investment in affordable housing, and ensuring care for supply chains to avoid shortages in items like semiconductors.

On climate, Biden will focus on tax cuts for businesses and consumers who invest in clean energy technologies and his goal to enlist a new generation of climate, conservation and resilience workers. Progressives have expressed concerns that climate change could be left behind by pursuing a two-track system to pass the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the jobs and families plan without Republican support.

The president will also push for support for the bipartisan infrastructure deal and highlight the fact that there are 2,374 bridges and more than 6,200 miles of highway in Illinois in need of repair and one in every 10 people in the state lack access to high-speed internet. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vowed Tuesday that Republicans would fight attempts by Democrats to pass a jobs and families plan along party lines. Democrats are aiming to pass the package before the Senate leaves in early August.

Biden had suggested he won’t sign the bipartisan infrastructure deal without a Democratic bill that focuses on jobs and families. The president ultimately walked back those comments. 

The bipartisan bill would need 60 votes to pass the Senate while the Democrats’ bill needs unity from all 50 members of the party’s caucus.