Midterm Pressures May Slim Down $3.5T Social Safety Net Package

The Hill: Democrats See $3.5T Spending Goal Is Slipping Away
There’s a growing realization among Democrats that their plans for a $3.5 trillion spending package to reshape the nation’s social safety net and to tackle climate change will have to be slimmed down because of anxious centrists worried about the 2022 midterms. Democrats by and large feel confident that President Biden’s ambitious “human” infrastructure agenda has strong public support and that a majority of Americans favor raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to help pay for it. (Bolton, 9/12)

Politico: Dems Hurtle Toward A New Fiscal Cliff 
Democrats’ internal wrangling over a massive new social spending plan will soon be eclipsed by much more urgent problems: avoiding an economic collapse and a government shutdown. There is growing worry among some rank-and-file Democrats that their tunnel-vision mentality on a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill could provoke economic blowback if Republicans hold the line and tank efforts to lift the debt ceiling. And Democrats' threadbare majorities in Congress are leaving the party with little time to wriggle out of a dangerous economic morass that could overwhelm their other priorities, from voting rights to tax increases on the wealthy to a sweeping expansion of the social safety net. (Everett and Caygle, 9/12)

The Washington Post: Democrats On The Cusp Of Painful Choices In Sweeping Budget Bill 
As top Democrats hashed out a plan this summer for a historic expansion of the social safety net, Sen. Bernie Sanders privately struck a deal with White House officials and Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer that is now having major ramifications. Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist, agreed to support a $3.5 trillion package — much smaller than he wanted — in exchange for a promise that more than a tenth of the money, at least $380 billion, would go toward his longtime goals, chiefly expanding Medicare to cover hearing, vision and dental care. (Sullivan, Sotomayor, Pager and Stein, 9/12)

The Washington Post: Democrats’ Tax Plan In House Begins To Take Shape As Economic Debate Enters New Stage 
A powerful panel of House Democrats on Sunday circulated a draft plan that would raise $2.9 trillion in new taxes and revenue predominantly targeted toward wealthy Americans, corporations and investors, as party lawmakers continued to spar in public over the size and scope of their new tax-and-spending package. The new proposal includes many measures Democrats are widely expected to embrace, such as increasing the top tax rate on Americans earning over $435,000 from 37 percent to 39.6 percent. It also calls for a new corporate tax rate of 26.5 percent for large profitable businesses, up from the current rate of 21 percent but lower than President Biden’s original proposal of 28 percent. Some smaller firms would see their taxes stay the same or even cut under the plan. (Romm and Stein, 9/12)

The Wall Street Journal: House Democrats Push Child Tax Credit Extension, Renewable Energy Breaks 
House Democrats proposed extending the expanded child tax credit through 2025 and making permanent its key feature aimed at helping low-income families, as part of a plan to provide tax breaks for families and renewable-energy producers. The plan, released Friday night, is the latest piece of Democratic legislation that could total $3.5 trillion over a decade. It includes more than $1.2 trillion in tax cuts and refundable tax credits, nearly half of which is the child tax credit, according to estimates released Saturday by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. Lawmakers also aim to expand Medicare, create a national paid-leave program and attempt to address climate change, paid for with tax increases on high-income households and corporations. (Rubin, 9/11)

CNBC: Democrats Aim To Expand Medicare Despite Looming Trust Fund Insolvency
It’s a situation that appears incongruous: Congressional Democrats want to expand Medicare’s benefits while a trust fund that supports the program is facing insolvency. Indeed, some Republican lawmakers have seized on that looming problem as a reason to oppose a proposal to add dental, vision and hearing coverage to Medicare. The provision is included in Democrats’ 10-year, $3.5 trillion spending plan that would expand the social safety net and battle climate change, among other policy goals. (O'Brien, 9/12)

In related news —

The Hill: Manchin Says He Can't Support Biden's $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan 
Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), a key moderate Democrat, said on Sunday that he can't support President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending plan. "We don't have the need to rush into this and get it done within one week because there's some deadline we're meeting or someone's going to fall through the cracks," Manchin said on NBC's "Meet the Press." (Oshin, 9/12)

Axios: Warner May Vote Against $3.5 Trillion Bill Over Housing Assistance For Black Families 
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is warning that he could vote against the $3.5 trillion budget package if more money isn’t added for housing assistance to close the racial wealth gap in the current House version of the bill, Axios has learned. (Nichols, 9/12)

And in other news from Capitol Hill —

NPR: U.S. Senators Call On EEOC To Probe Amazon's Treatment Of Pregnant Workers
Six U.S. senators are calling for a federal probe into Amazon's treatment of pregnant employees at its warehouses. It's the latest push by lawmakers across the country to focus regulatory attention on the working conditions for the company's ballooning workforce. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission should investigate whether "Amazon systematically denies reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees at its fulfillment centers," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter co-signed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and three other Democrats. (Selyukh, 9/11)