Biden to visit Ida-hit residents in New York and New Jersey – US politics live

Joe Manchin wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week calling for a “strategic pause” in advancing the spending package.

“While some have suggested this reconciliation legislation must be passed now, I believe that making budgetary decisions under artificial political deadlines never leads to good policy or sound decisions,” Manchin said in the op-ed.

“I, for one, won’t support a $3.5tn bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs.”

Bernie Sanders, the leftwing chairman of the Senate budget committee, responded to Manchin’s warning in kind, threatening to torpedo the bipartisan infrastructure bill if the spending package is not approved.

“Rebuilding our crumbling physical infrastructure – roads, bridges, water systems – is important,” Sanders said on Twitter. “Rebuilding our crumbling human infrastructure – healthcare, education, climate change – is more important. No infrastructure bill without the $3.5tn reconciliation bill.”

As Congress prepares to return from its August recess, Democratic leaders are scrambling to figure out how to advance both bills, which encompass much of Joe Biden’s economic agenda. If centrists and progressives don’t reach an agreement, both proposals may fail.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi said she did not agree with Democratic senator Joe Manchin’s call for a “strategic pause” in negotiations over the $3.5tn budget bill due to concerns about deficit spending.

“Well, obviously I don’t agree,” Pelosi said on Capitol Hill. “I’m pretty excited about where we are. Everybody’s working very hard. The committees are doing their work. We’re on a good timetable. And I feel very exhilarated by it.”

A CNN reporter asked Pelosi whether she believed the topline cost of the final bill would be less than $3.5tn because of the criticism from Manchin and fellow Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema.

“Well, you have to go talk to the Senate about that,” Pelosi said. “But we’re going to pay for as much of it as possible, and it will have far less impact on the national debt than the Republican 2017 tax scam.”

Joe Biden will head to California “early next week” to campaign with governor Gavin Newsom, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said moments ago.

Newsom is facing a difficult recall election in California, and a number of prominent Democrats have been offering their assistance as the governor fights to remain in office.

Vice-President Kamala Harris is also scheduled to travel to her home state of California tomorrow to campaign with Newsom.

According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, there are now less than 100 Americans remaining in Afghanistan who still need to be evacuated.

Psaki said Joe Biden is receiving regular updates from his national security team as the administration works to evacuate all US citizens seeking to leave Afghanistan.

The Kabul evacuation mission formally ended last week, but Biden pledged the US would continue to work past the deadline to help all Americans still in Afghanistan.

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now gaggling with reporters aboard Air Force One en route to New Jersey and New York, where Joe Biden will tour neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Ida.

Psaki confirmed that the president will use the tour as an opportunity to highlight how average Americans are being affected by extreme weather, which has intensified due to the climate crisis.

In a tweet, Biden said of his administration’s response to Hurricane Ida, “We’re working around the clock to ensure impacted areas have the support they need to recover and rebuild.”

Another White House reporter asked Joe Biden whether he planned to meet with any of the Afghan refugees who have come to the US since the Taliban takeover.

“Well, they’re all over the country, and I’m sure I’ll be seeing some of them. And they’re welcome,” Biden said.

The US military evacuated more than 65,000 Afghans out of the country last month, and tens of thousands of them have already arrived in America.

Joe Biden is now en route to New Jersey and New York, where he will tour neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Ida and deliver remarks on hurricane preparedness.

The president took a couple questions from reporters before boarding Air Force One. Asked what he wants to see on his trip today, Biden said, “I’m hoping to see the things we’re going to be able to fix permanently with the bill that we have in for infrastructure.”

Another reporter asked Biden how he will get all congressional Democrats on board with his infrastructure proposals, as progressives and centrists argue over the price tag of the $3.5tn spending package.

The president replied with a quote from the musical “Annie”: “The sun’s going to come out tomorrow.”

Congress will return from its summer recess later this month, and some Democrats are already gearing up for a political fight – with each other.

Democratic lawmakers are looking to pass their $3.5tn spending package, after the House and the Senate approved the blueprint for the budget bill last month. The ambitious legislation encompasses much of Joe Biden’s economic agenda, including proposals to expand access to affordable childcare, invest in climate-related initiatives and broaden Medicare coverage.

But to get the bill passed, Democrats will first need to reach an agreement on the cost of the legislation. Centrist Democrats, including Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, have expressed concern about the bill’s $3.5tn price tag, while progressives have indicated they will fiercely oppose any attempt to cut funding in the proposal.

With his entire economic agenda hanging in the balance, Biden will need to convince the two fractious wings of his party to come together and pass a comprehensive spending package. And given Democrats’ extremely narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate, there is virtually no room for error.

Despite warning signs of intra-party friction over the cost of the budget bill, congresswoman Suzan DelBene, who chairs the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said the House’s focus right now should still be on the content of the legislation.

“I think discussion of a number is more distracting when the focus really needs to be on, what is the substance going to be of this legislation?” DelBene told the Guardian. “If we have strong legislation the people support, I think we can find the path forward.”

During his trip to New Jersey and New York, Joe Biden will underscore how the climate crisis is affecting average Americans.

“President Biden will highlight how one in three Americans have been impacted by severe weather events in recent months, and that no one is immune from climate change,” a White House official told CNN.

“He will speak about the economic impacts of extreme weather, while driving home the urgent need for key investments to fight climate change and in resilient infrastructure, critical investments included in the President’s Build Back Better agenda.”

Biden’s trip comes as Congress prepares to return from its August recess and take up the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ $3.5tn spending package, which the president has argued will make the country better prepared for extreme weather events.

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

Joe Biden will travel to New York and New Jersey today to tour neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Ida, which hit the US last week.

The president will receive a briefing on hurricane response from local leaders in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, and tour a neighborhood in Manville, New Jersey, before delivering remarks in Queens, New York.

Biden’s visit comes after the hurricane caused widespread flooding in the New York metropolitan area, leading to at least 50 deaths from Virginia to Connecticut.

The president is expected to deliver remarks on his administration’s efforts to prepare for and respond to hurricanes, which are becoming more intense and more common due to the climate crisis.

While touring hurricane-impacted Louisiana last week, Biden said, “Hurricane Ida is another reminder that we need to be prepared for the next hurricane and superstorms that are going to come, and they’re going to come more frequently and more ferociously.”

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.