'Smaller, more workable': White House scaling back Biden's $2 trillion American Jobs Plan

White House, US Democrats have been reworking US President Joe Biden’s overhaul package ‘American Rescue Plan’ that aims to ‘build back better’ the battered economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, create more jobs, and revamp the American infrastructure in order to “out-compete China.” The lawmakers have been making changes to the ambitious $2 trillion domestic policy plan as they are now considering slashing the funding for the social services and climate change programs, and incorporating new taxes for the wealthier to transform the package into a more appealing one for the American citizens. White House in an official statement had earlier said, "President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda means a fair tax system and once-in-a-generation investments in workers and working families." 

Biden administration’s long-awaited package, which claims to ensure that the American taxpayers’ dollars benefit working families, is undergoing the last minute contouring to meet the demands of the progressives, who want major investments in social services, and centrists, Associated Press reported. This implies that the lawmakers on Thursday decided to act on the concerns of the divided US Senate to avert missing even a single vote when it is passed.

“When you’re president of the United States, you have 50 Democrats — everyone is a president. Every single one. So you gotta work things out,” US President Joe Biden was quoted saying during a CNN town hall meeting by Associated Press.

Although, he indicated that the package might be set for a positive fate as he said: “I think so” when asked if Democrats were anywhere close to reaching a deal. 

'All about compromise..' says US President

“It’s all about compromise. Compromise has become a dirty word, but bipartisanship and compromise still have to be possible,” Joe Biden said about the American Jobs Plan package at the town hall, according to Associated Press. He emphasized that the bill was only “down to four or five issues,” one being the issue on the taxes as the White House considered drafting a new strategy around the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that created a single corporate tax rate of 21%. Many tax benefits for working families were set to expire in 2025. 

“We have a goal. We have a timetable. We have milestones, and we’ve met them all,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. said, according to Associated Press. She stressed that the $2 trillion domestic policy plan will “pass soon” as Democrats have been attempting to shrink the $3.5 trillion package to just $2 trillion.

There would be an expansion in social services for middle-class Americans in the reworked plan. Newly proposed tax provisions also reportedly created a rift among the moderate Democrats that now want Republican-backed 2017 tax cuts to be completely abolished. Pelosi, however, did not divulge details about the alternate, as she said: “We’ll see.” 

(With Agency Inputs)