Joe Biden heads to Virginia schools with Jill to pitch his $4trillion jobs and families plan

President Joe Biden headed to Yorktown, Virginia, on Monday as his administration starts a blitzkrieg to sell its $4.1 trillion in federal spending package amid negotiations with Republicans.

Jill Biden, a teacher, is joining him for a trip to highlight the educational component of his plans. The couple will visit two schools – Yorktown Elementary School and Tidewater Community College.

The first couple, who wore face masks as they left the White House, are kicking off a weeklong push by the Biden administration to sell its massive social welfare and infrastructure plans.

The first lady heads out West on Wednesday to visit Utah, Nevada and Colorado. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Milwaukee on Tuesday and in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday. Doug Emhoff will visit the Lehigh Valley on a Wednesday. President Biden visits New Orleans on Thursday. 

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden headed to Yorktown, Virginia, on Monday as his administration starts a blitzkrieg to sell its $4.1 trillion in federal spending package

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden headed to Yorktown, Virginia, on Monday as his administration starts a blitzkrieg to sell its $4.1 trillion in federal spending package

The Bidens will visit two schools - Yorktown Elementary School and Tidewater Community College

The Bidens will visit two schools – Yorktown Elementary School and Tidewater Community College

Polls show conflicted feelings over Biden’s $2.3 trillion jobs package – a massive infrastructure bill that Republicans have criticized for containing items other than tradition infrastructure, such as housing for the elderly and a Climate Corp. 

An April Ipsos Poll found that only 45% supported the plan but many elements in the proposal had strong support, such as the repair or replacement of American ports, railways, bridges, and highways (79%) and investing in home-based care for the elderly or disabled (78%). 

Biden plans to pay for his ambitious jobs agenda with a hike in corporate taxes.

He’ll also be pitching his second proposal, a $1.8 trillion families plan he laid out in his speech to Congress last week. Called a ‘human infrastructure’ bill, it focuses on social programs such as education and health care and is funded through a tax hike on the wealthy.

Many of the items – the expanded Child Tax Credit, expanded paid family and medical leave, free tuition and universal pre-K – poll well with voters. 

Republicans are balking at the cost and the expanded role in government the programs would bring. 

They’ve countered Biden’s infrastructure plan with a smaller proposal of their own that focuses on tradition items and have called the president’s families plan a nonstarter.

Later this week, Jill Biden will head to the West Coast and Joe Biden goes to New Orleans

Later this week, Jill Biden will head to the West Coast and Joe Biden goes to New Orleans

Jill Biden's face mask had pearl details on its bands, which matched her pearl bracelet

Jill Biden’s face mask had pearl details on its bands, which matched her pearl bracelet

President Biden gave Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam an elbow bump when he and first lady Jill were greeted by Northam and wife Pamela Northam upon their arrival in Newport News, Va.

President Biden gave Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam an elbow bump when he and first lady Jill were greeted by Northam and wife Pamela Northam upon their arrival in Newport News, Va.

Democrats control both chambers of Congress but hold a narrow margin in the House. In the Senate, Biden needs at least 10 Republican votes to move his proposals through the legislative process. 

As part of negotiations, Biden will host congressional leaders in both parties in the White House next week on May 12. It’s a different step from negotiations in the $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan passed in March, which did not garner a single Republican vote. 

‘We’re going to work with Republicans. We’re going to find common ground. You know, the Senate last week passed by an overwhelming margin, a part of a water infrastructure bill that’s part of- related to our jobs plan. So I think you’re starting to see some progress here,’ White House chief of staff Ron Klain said on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday. 

The president is considering breaking up his American Jobs Plan in separate bills to help shepherd them through Congress.

‘President Biden has been clear that he knows this is a negotiation, that he knows that negotiation requires compromise at some point, and that he wants to move this package forward in a bipartisan way, if that’s possible,’ senior White House adviser Anita Dunn said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. ‘We’re looking forward to having discussions. We are open to people’s ideas. This is discussion time and idea time for the White House.’

That plan, which focuses on infrastructure, has Republican support on traditional items like repairing roads and bridges along with expanding broadband internet access. 

The GOP has pitched a a $568 billion plan that focuses on roads, transit systems, and broadband internet. 

‘Frankly, if the White House is going to work with us, this is a deal we can do,’ Republican Senator Rob Portman said Sunday on ‘Meet the Press.’ 

source: dailymail.co.uk