ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) – The White House will continue to push for the president’s Build Back Better spending bill to be enacted, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday, adding that recent talks with key Democratic Senator Joe Manchin were encouraging.
“The president’s going to get this done and we’re going to get it across the finish line. And yes, it’s going to take more time than we anticipated,” she told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Joe Biden traveled to South Carolina.
On Thursday, Biden signaled that his key domestic spending plan tackling social supports and climate change may not pass this year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had pledged to pass it by the end of the year.
Psaki on Friday acknowledged passage hinges on the narrow majority Biden’s fellow Democrats hold in the Senate, making Manchin a critical voice. Manchin, a moderate from the Republican stronghold of West Virginia, has raised a number of issues with the bill amid continuing negotiations.
Separately, Psaki said if the spending plan does not pass by year’s end, one option to assist families could be to make double monthly child tax credit payments in February after payments expired this month.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Chizu Nomiyama)
