On Monday, Democratic congressional leaders and President Joe Biden came to a compromise on a domestic policy and climate package and a vote is expected to come on the scaled-down plan within days, despite some disagreements remaining.
The key points that are still being debated include health benefits, paid leave, environmental provisions, and how to pay for the sprawling plan, the New York Times reported.
Negotiators have been working on an agreement that would spend $1.75 trillion over 10 years, half of what was approved in the blueprint Democrats approved earlier this year. The cuts came to please centrist holdouts who were pressing on the size of the bill.
The plan that both sides have agreed on in theory looks to extend monthly payments to families with children, establish generous tax incentives for clean energy use and give federal support for child care, elder care, and universal prekindergarten.
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The incentives would be funded through various tax increases, including a new wealth tax for the country's billionaires. However, according to the Times, a final deal has not been struck as disagreements over the details of potential Medicaid and Medicare expansions.
These would include a new paid family and medical leave program, programs to combat climate change, and a proposal to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
The Democrats leading negotiations have been trying to increase the price tag up to $2 trillion, but there has still not been an agreement from Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin pushing the price tag down.
Officials from Biden's Administration and Democratic leaders hoped that they would have a deal done when Biden appears at a United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the Times reported.
Biden shared with reporters that it would be "very, very positive to get it done before the trip."
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In discussions on Monday, Republicans who disagreed with the domestic policy plan, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, fired shots at the new tax proposals.
"Our Democratic colleagues have become so tax-hike happy that they're throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks," McConnell said. "Now they're talking about rewiring the entire economy after a couple of days' discussions on the back of an envelope. It's a massive and untested change."
