总统乔·拜登周三在国会山与民主党人共进午餐，该党正在进行精心策划的任务两个独立的部分立法总价值4.1万亿美元的新支出。
拜登出席午宴之前，民主党参议院领袖深夜宣布他们已经同意了在一项3.5万亿美元的预算决议上，这是开启一个进程的第一步，该进程可能允许民主党在没有任何共和党支持的情况下通过拜登的一些美国家庭计划优先事项。
据众多与会者称，在一个小时的闭门午餐会议上，参议院民主党人向拜登提出了关于新预算蓝图和1.2万亿美元两党基础设施一揽子计划的问题。
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默和预算委员会主席森伯尼·桑德斯，I-Vt。弗吉尼亚州参议员马克·华纳(Mark Warner)一直在争取在更广泛的立法中占据主导地位，他带领总统和核心小组浏览了4.1万亿美元拟议新支出的大纲。
据一名民主党高级助手称，预算提案包括延长儿童税收抵免的期限，该期限最早是在3月份制定的新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)救济法案。根据该扩展计划，有6岁以下儿童的家庭每名儿童每年可获得3，600加元，较大儿童的家庭每名儿童可获得3，000加元。
该决议还包括为各种气候倡议提供资金，支持普及学前教育、负担得起的儿童保育、社区大学和带薪探亲假，以及对负担得起的住房和小企业的投资等条款。
桑德斯说，预计最终产品中还有“至少1200亿美元”用于移民改革。
这位助手说，为了支付大规模的一揽子计划，民主党人提议对富人和大公司增税，但不会对收入低于40万美元的家庭征税。
桑德斯周三称赞该决议是“这个国家现代史上最重要的项目”，但该计划确实大大低于他最初坚持的6万亿美元。
一位与总统共进午餐的参议员说，桑德斯发表了一篇关于他的前对手的热情洋溢的演讲，称他从未想到拜登会“如此进步”
“这是一个令人毛骨悚然的恋爱节，”参议员告诉美国广播公司新闻国会记者雷切尔·斯科特的演讲。
根据这位民主党参议员的说法，俄亥俄州参议员谢罗德·布朗(Sherrod Brown)在午餐时，认真考虑了参加2020年民主党总统初选，他感谢拜登反复使用“联盟”一词，尽管背景尚不清楚。
“你是我在华盛顿30年来第一位我仍然喜欢的总统。他说，‘你还没有出卖我们’，”参议员转述布朗的话。
拜登谈到了两党和解的基础设施协议，但大多数参议员都被更广泛、更全面的信息打动了——总统不希望他在宾夕法尼亚州斯克兰顿的邻居受到他们会做的任何事情的伤害。康涅狄格州参议员克里斯·墨菲(Chris Murphy)表示，拜登“提出了一个令人难以置信的令人信服的理由，即这是做大的时刻。”
但并不是所有的民主党人都同意这个计划，预算提案的细节仍在汇总。
弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)告诉记者，他对该提议有一些担忧。
“我担心通货膨胀。所以我想看到更多正在发生的细节。我也关心维护美利坚合众国的能源独立，”这位温和的民主党人说。
进步人士墨菲说，他担心3.5万亿美元不够大，尤其是考虑到东北走廊铁路服务的现代化。
任何一次民主党的倒戈都可能成为民主党领导层的严重障碍。和解需要简单的多数票，这意味着民主党的每一张选票加上副总统卡玛拉•哈里斯的决定性一票，都将被要求推动这项法案越过终点线。
共和党人从一开始就明确表示，他们不会支持超出两党正在单独谈判的基础设施一揽子计划的支出。
参议院共和党三号人物、参议员约翰·巴拉索(John Barrasso)说:“对我来说，昨晚宣布的3.5万亿美元真的是极端民主党人走向社会主义的货运列车。”这是他们需要每个民主党人都通过的，因为众议院或参议院没有一个共和党人会支持这种水平的税收和支出。"
尽管共和党人对预算决议进行了反击，但致力于谈判单独的1.2万亿美元两党计划的两党小组成员表示，他们不担心预算提案偏离了他们的计划。
代表共和党领导两党谈判的俄亥俄州参议员罗布·波特曼(Rob Portman)说:“有两个完全不同的法案——一个是两党的、负责任的、不增税的，另一个是，你知道，在我们已经处于创纪录的赤字和债务水平的时候，一场巨大的支出狂欢。“所以我很关心这件事，但它们彼此没有关系。”
“我认为他们所做的是一个真正的错误，但这一点也没有影响我们，”波特曼说。
参议员比尔·卡西迪。两党小组的另一名成员表示，他们的努力是“完全不同的”。
“他们没有联系，这将增加我们的债务或增加税收，但就我们的努力而言，这不应该有影响，”他说。
预算协议或两党基础设施计划的法案文本尚未出台，参议员们面临着拜登设定的在8月休会前迅速采取行动的最后期限。
舒默表示，他打算在参议院夏季休会前就两党协议和预算方案进行投票。
Biden rallies Democrats behind $3.5 trillion budget plan
PresidentJoe Bidenlunched with Democrats on Capitol Hill Wednesday as the party proceeds with the delicate task of craftingtwo separate piecesof legislation worth a combined $4.1 trillion in new spending.
Biden's attendance at the lunch comes following a late-night announcement from Democratic Senate leadersthat they had agreedon a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the first step in unlocking a process that could allow Democrats to pass some of Biden's American Families plan priorities without any Republican support.
In an hour-long lunch meeting behind closed doors, Senate Democrats peppered Biden with questions about the new budget blueprint and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, according to numerous attendees.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with the chairman of the Budget Committee, Sen.Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and panel member Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who has fought to reign in the broader legislation, walked the president and caucus through the outlines of the $4.1 trillion in proposed new spending.
According to a senior Democratic aide, the budget proposal includes an extension of the child tax credit expansion first carved out in March'sCOVID-19relief bill. Families with children under 6 years old receive $3,600 per year per child under that expansion and families of older children receive $3,000 per child.
The resolution also includes funding for a variety of climate initiatives, support for universal Pre-K, affordable child care, community college and paid family leave, and investments in affordable housing and small businesses, among other provisions.
Sanders said there is also "at least $120 billion" for immigration reform expected in the final product.
To pay for the massive package, Democrats are proposing raising taxes on the wealthy and big corporations, but won't tax families making under $400,000, the aide said.
Sanders praised the resolution Wednesday as "the most consequential program in modern history of this country," but the plan does fall significantly short of the $6 trillion he initially insisted on.
One senator who attended lunch with the president said Sanders gave an effusive speech regarding his former rival, saying he never imagined Biden would be "so progressive."
"It was a freaking lovefest," the senator told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott of the speech.
During the lunch Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who seriously contemplated jumping into the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, thanked Biden for using the word "union" repeatedly, though the context was not clear, according to the Democratic senator.
"You are the first president in the 30 years I've been in Washington that I still like. He said, 'You haven't sold us out yet'," the senator paraphrased Brown as saying.
Biden addressed both the bipartisan and reconciliation infrastructure deals, but most senators were struck by the broader, sweeping message -- that the president doesn't want his neighbors in Scranton, Pennsylvania, being hurt by anything they would do. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Biden "made an incredibly compelling case that this is the moment to go big."
But not all Democrats are on board with the plan yet, and details of the budget proposal are still coming together.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters he has a number of concerns with the proposal.
"I'm concerned about inflation. And so I want to see more of the details of what's going on. I'm concerned also about maintaining the energy independence of the United States of America," the moderate Democrat said.
And Murphy, a progressive, said he's concerned that the $3.5 trillion is not big enough, particularly to take care of modernizing the northeastern corridor rail service.
Any single Democratic defection could be a serious obstacle for Democratic leadership. Reconciliation requires a simple majority, which means every Democratic vote plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris will be required to move this bill over the finish line.
Republicans have been clear from the onset they won't support spending beyond the bipartisan infrastructure package being negotiated separately.
"To me that $3.5 trillion that was announced last night really is the extreme Democrats' freight train to socialism," said Sen. John Barrasso, the number three Senate Republican. "This is something that they are going to need every Democrat to pass because there is not a single Republican in the House or in the Senate who is going to support this level of taxing and spending."
Despite the Republican blowback to the budget resolution, members of the bipartisan group working on negotiating the separate, $1.2 trillion bipartisan plan, said they are not concerned about the budget proposal throwing their package off course.
"There are two very different bills that are totally separate tracks -- one is bipartisan, responsible, no tax increases, the other is, you know, a huge spending spree at a time when we're already at record levels of deficit and debt," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has been leading bipartisan negotiations on behalf of Republicans. "So I'm concerned about it, but they don't relate to one another."
"I think it's a real mistake what they're doing but it doesn't affect us at all," Portman said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., another member of the bipartisan group, said their efforts are "totally separate."
"They're not linked, it is going to increase our debt or else increase taxes, but in terms of our effort it shouldn't have an impact," he said.
Bill text is not yet available for either the budget deal or the bipartisan infrastructure plan and senators face fast-approaching deadlines, set by Biden, for swift action before the August recess.
Schumer has said he intends to hold a vote on both the bipartisan deal and the budget package before the Senate takes its summer break.
