The White House released a $1.85 trillion framework designed to show progress in months of social spending and climate talks that fell short of persuading progressives to quickly approve a parallel, roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, the Wall Street Journal reported. President Biden met with House Democrats in the morning to pitch them on the new framework, a far slimmer piece of legislation than the $3.5 trillion package the party originally had outlined. Democrats have been rushing to complete negotiations on the bill so that they can also move forward with the public-works legislation, which passed the Senate over the summer but has languished in the House. Party leaders initially signaled they wanted to hold a vote on the infrastructure bill later Thursday, but abandoned that plan in the evening in the face of progressive opposition, instead approving a short-term patch for transportation programs that were expiring at the end of the month. Progressives endorsed Mr. Biden’s framework but said they still needed to see more detail of the social policy and climate bill before they could support the infrastructure legislation.
