Biden Tries To Seal Spending Deal With Paid Family Leave On Chopping Block

AP: Biden To Head To Capitol To Push Agenda, Unite Democrats
President Joe Biden heads to Capitol Hill early Thursday to push his revised domestic policy bill and a related bipartisan infrastructure plan with fractious House Democrats after days of prolonged negotiations over his ambitious social and climate policies and how to pay for them. Biden will then make remarks from the White House, a possible signal that agreement might be within reach after a paid family leave proposal fell out and a billionaires’ tax appeared scrapped to win over pivotal senators in the 50-50 Senate. (Mascaro, Madhani and Fram, 10/28)

The Hill: Biden To Announce New Framework On Spending Deal
Specifics of Biden's agenda were not immediately clear, making it difficult to know what will make it into his final proposal for an ambitious spending package that would cover funding for climate programs, education, family and child care and more. Democrats have spent months haggling over details, including how to pay for the package. (Samuels and Wong, 10/28)

ABC News: Family Leave Hangs In The Balance As Democrats Scramble To Close Social Spending Deal 
Democrats on Wednesday scrambled to close the deal on President Joe Biden's landmark social spending legislation, focusing on new ways to pay for the package, including a billionaires tax the White House said the president supports. At the same time, they were hoping to make enough progress that House progressives would agree to vote for a separate Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill before Biden heads overseas Thursday. (Cathey, Turner, Khan and Pecorin, 10/27)

Roll Call: Pelosi Aims To Light Fire Under Budget Package Negotiators
House Democratic leaders sought to increase pressure for a deal on their mammoth spending and tax package that would allow a vote this week on a bipartisan infrastructure bill that faces a Halloween deadline.Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House Rules Committee would hold a "hearing" Thursday on the still-unfinished Democratic budget reconciliation package to expand the social safety net and combat climate change. Progressives have said they would not vote for the infrastructure bill, offering $550 billion in new public works money, without a vote on the broader social spending bill. (McPherson, Shutt, Weiss, and Lerman, 10/28)

The New York Times: Hunting for Money, Democrats Rush to Rewrite Tax Code
As they hunt for revenue to pay for their sprawling spending bill and try to unite a fractured caucus, Democrats are attempting to rewrite the United States tax code in a matter of days, proposing the kind of sweeping changes to how America taxes businesses and individuals that would normally take months or years to enact. The effort has effectively discarded trillions of dollars of carefully crafted tax increases that President Biden proposed on the campaign trail and that top Democrats have rolled out in Congress. Instead, lawmakers are throwing a slew of new proposals into the mix, including a tax on billionaires, hoping that they can pass muster both legally and within their own party. (Rappeport and Tankersley, 10/27)

Also —

CNBC: Medicare Expansion Hangs In The Balance As Democrats Race Towards Deal
A major expansion of Medicare that Democrats proposed as part of the Build Back Better initiative is in danger of being trimmed or even taken out of the legislation as lawmakers scramble to make a deal. In their original $3.5 trillion budget proposal, Democrats included a revision of Medicare that would add coverage for dental, hearing and vision. The plan was expected to cost around $350 billion over a decade. But now, those parts of the expansion may be dropped as lawmakers look to trim the overall cost and rework pieces of the legislation to appease centrist Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. (Reinicke, 10/27)

The Washington Post: Vulnerable Democrats Worried About What Is Not In Reconciliation Bill 
The House Democrats at most risk of losing their seats in the 2022 midterm elections are urging their colleagues not to jettison a set of popular programs from President Biden’s economic and social spending package, warning that failing to deliver on these promises to voters could pave the way for Republicans to regain control of Congress. These vulnerable Democrats argue that expanding Medicaid into certain states, allowing the government to negotiate prescription drug prices, expanding Medicare coverage and providing for paid family leave are key to both motivating Democrats to vote in the midterm elections and to winning over the small but key group of independent voters who could otherwise back their Republican challengers. (Sotomayor, 10/27)

Roll Call: ‘Pride In Product’ Colors Lawmakers’ View Of Budget Negotiations 
House and Senate Democrats are engaged in a policy and process war over unresolved tax and health care provisions of the budget reconciliation package on which Democrats are trying to reach a “framework” agreement this week. Most of the major open issues fall under the jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees. Final decisions have yet to be made on tax increases, prescription drug price negotiation, expansions of Medicare and Medicaid and a paid leave program. Aides have said paid leave is out, but lawmakers are still pushing for a solution. (McPherson, 10/27)

KHN: Democrats’ Plans To Expand Medicare Benefits Put Pinch On Advantage Plans’ Funding
“Did you think we wouldn’t notice?” an older woman says, speaking into the camera. “You thought you could sneak this through?” an older man later adds. Others warn that Washington is “messing with” their Medicare Advantage health coverage and trying to raise their premiums. But the television ad, paid for by Better Medicare Alliance, a research and advocacy group for Medicare Advantage plans, doesn’t spell out what cuts congressional lawmakers might be trying to slip past unsuspecting seniors. (Andrews, 10/28)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Las Vegas Review-Journal: House Passes Bill To Get Mental Health Support For First Responders
Bipartisan legislation modeled after Nevada laws to provide confidentiality to law enforcement officers and first responders who seek and participate in mental health counseling was passed overwhelmingly in the House on Wednesday. The House voted 424-3 to pass the legislation that Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said would get law enforcement officers the “mental health support they need and deserve.” The bill, introduced by Cortez Masto and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was passed in the Senate in June by unanimous vote. Following the House vote, it now goes to the White House for the president’s signature (Martin, 10/27)