Biden hopes for deal on economic agenda before Europe trip

President Biden said Monday that he hopes to have a deal on the sweeping budget bill containing his proposals to address climate change and expand social programs before he departs for Europe later this week to attend a global climate change conference.

“That’s my hope,” Biden told reporters Monday morning when asked if he wants to have a deal before he leaves for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, which is scheduled to begin over the weekend.

“It’d be very, very positive to get it done before the trip,” he later added.

Biden also said that his conversation with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Sunday “went well” but that they have “a few more things to work out.”

Biden met with Manchin, a key centrist who has objected to aspects of the package and its price tag, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday for a rare breakfast meeting at his home in Wilmington, Del.

Democrats are working to scale down programs included in the package in order to reduce its price tag from $3.5 trillion to somewhere around $2 trillion in order to satisfy Manchin and fellow moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). Democrats can’t afford a single defection from their party in a Senate equally divided between the parties.

The final package is expected to leave out one of the key climate provisions, the Clean Electricity Performance Program, though Biden insisted during a CNN town hall last week that “nothing has been formally agreed to.”

Biden made the brief comments to reporters in Delaware before departing for an official trip to New Jersey, during which he is expected to tout both the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill and the larger climate and social spending package that Democrats intend to pass through budget reconciliation without GOP support.

Manchin told reporters later Monday that an agreement was possible this week. 

House Democrats have set a soft deadline of Sunday to reach a deal on the reconciliation package that would unlock a vote on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August but has languished in the House because progressives have refused to vote in favor of it without a deal on the larger package.

Biden leaves Thursday for Rome, where he will meet with Pope Francis and attend a Group of 20 summit. He will then attend the climate change conference, COP26, in Glasgow on Monday and Tuesday. Biden will use his visit to try to rally the international community around collective efforts to address climate change, but he will likely be in a more difficult position to do if a deal on his own domestic climate change proposal has not been reached.

White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One following Biden’s comments that officials are making progress and that he would be engaged “closely” with White House officials and members of Congress on his agenda even while overseas.

“Even if it doesn’t happen before he leaves, the president can do the work that he needs to do abroad like many presidents before him have done,” Jean-Pierre said when asked whether he would delay his departure to Europe due to the ongoing discussions. 

This story was updated at 12:54 p.m.