White House senior adviser touts spending package after infrastructure passage

White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond touted the Democrats’ social spending package on Sunday after the House passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill two days earlier, signaling that the administration is now focusing its attention on the larger package, which lawmakers have vowed to pass later this month.

“We need to get it done,” Richmond told guest host Bill Hemmer on “Fox News Sunday” of the $1.75 trillion social spending package, which includes funding to expand social programs and address climate change.

“We need to get it done now because if you look at the 17 Nobel Prize-winning economists, they said that it will ease inflationary pressures, help with the supply chain and invest in the human capital in this country all at one time,” Richmond added.

Richmond said the White House is “optimistic we’re going to get it done.”

His remarks came in response to a question about Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) last week doubling-down on his argument that Democrats should “slow down” deliberations on the $1.75 trillion social spending package.

Richmond said the moderate senator “has been a partner,” and has been willing to engage in negotiations with lawmakers and White House officials.

“Sen. Manchin has been a partner. He’s a lot more conservative and everybody sees that but he’s been a willing partner to come to the table with constructive dialogue and we’re confident in where we will go with our Build Back Better framework,” Richmond said.

He later added that the social spending package is the “third prong to our economic agenda,” likely referring to the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the COVID-19 relief package passed in March. He said the agenda is “producing great results.”

“We’re gonna keep pushing for it because it’s now time to invest in the American people once and for all,” he added.

The House on Friday approved the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, sending it to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

The vote capped off months of negotiations between lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the White House, which were elongated because of internal clashes within the Democratic Party.

Moderates had pushed for the House to first pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill before beginning deliberations on the social spending package, the Build Back Better Act, but progressives demanded that the two bills be advanced together.

The caucus ultimately came to an agreement on Friday to pass the bipartisan infrastructure package and advance the spending package, after a bloc of moderates refused to give the larger bill final approval before seeing a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Moderates on Friday vowed to vote for the larger spending package once the CBO score is released, and if those numbers check out with statistics from the White House.